


Fate's Guardian

by PeaceHeather



Series: Marvel 'verse [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Loki, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Good Loki, Loki Gets a Hug, Loki Needs a Hug, Thor Needs a Hug, sort of good Loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-03-19 08:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 98,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3602877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeaceHeather/pseuds/PeaceHeather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set roughly a year post-Thor:TDW, reference to events in Guardians of the Galaxy. Pretty much a shameless fixit fic. No pairings. A being shows up on Earth looking for Loki, the Avengers get pulled in to see what's going on, and they all learn what Loki has *really* been up to all this time. I dunno, I was in a mood to write something like this, so I did. First posted to FFnet, if you prefer to read it there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Earth

The first time She appeared, it was in Tokyo, which, _appropriate_ , if any major city was going to get a bizarre monster thing cruising through the streets it would almost have to be Tokyo, right? There was probably a rule, somewhere, the "Godzilla Ordinance" or something. Only this was no giant lizard.

News footage showed what looked like a statue made of transparent, molten glass, standing head-to-roofline beside the single-story shops, towering over the humans. Like, easily ten feet tall. She had a faint glow to Her, although that might have been because curved clear glass has a tendency to catch and refract the light around it. The only thing anyone could see inside Her body were three spheres, situated in a line from just below the throat to just above where a pelvis would be; one red, one black, one white. They all glowed brightly—even the black one, which was just weird.

Being weird, naturally, got SHIELD's attention, and they, naturally, called the Avengers in to "handle" it.

Everybody who saw the being called it a "She", even though it wasn't obviously female. But it wasn't obviously male, either, and apparently that was enough to call it a girl, people all over the planet being both obsessed with gender and kinda sexist. At least the voice was more or less feminine, toward the low end for a woman but reasonably alto rather than bass or anything. But honestly, that was pretty much it for femininity, and there wasn't a whole lot going for Her in the "human" department either. There was debate over whether it was an alien being or some kind of funky tech.

Her second appearance was in Shanghai; again with the wandering the streets, again with the screaming crowds, and this time with an eventual military action that had no effect on Her whatsoever. It wasn't like she was still standing when the smoke cleared. The mortar rounds didn't even explode—they vanished, and She just kept on walking as if She hadn't noticed there was even a threat. Luckily, "no effect" meant the attack didn't make Her mad, either.

She made her way west-ish across Asia, hitting all the very largest cities: Seoul, followed by Manila, then Jakarta, Indonesia. A couple stops in India. Dhaka, in Bangladesh. In each place, day or night, on news programs or on YouTube uploads, people would see the same thing. She would show up, walk among the streets, and stop now and again to address the people, then eventually vanish; like, literally vanish, simply turning to the left, taking a step, and disappearing. Which was irritating, because half the time the Avengers weren't allowed into whatever country it was to confront Her, and the other half they'd show up only to find She had already gone.

It took a few stops for people to stop running and screaming, and listen to what the alien statue thing had to say. "She said She was looking for someone," reported a few bystanders. "A guardian," whatever that meant.

Whatever She was, She was making an effort not to be hostile. No attacking, no property damage, no Godzilla rampages, and eventually the crowds caught on. In Indonesia a kid walked right up to her, said, "This is for you," and put a flower in the palm of Her hand.

"Why do you do this?" She asked.

"I see what you are," said the kid.

She replied, "Very good, little volva" (which drove the SHIELD analysts nuts, because that wasn't even a word in Malay or in any of the other main languages in that part of Indonesia). "You see much that your kinsmen do not. Do you know the guardian whom we seek?"

"No, sisters," and again, SHIELD was scrambling and the professional geeks were having a field day, "I have never heard that name."

"Then we must continue our search elsewhere," said She.

SHIELD interviewed the kid (of course they did) and all that was really uncovered was that her name was Aditi, she was eight, and she had a knack for perceptiveness that according to SHIELD suggested some kind of clairvoyant ability. Her local temple had already taken it as a given that she would go there to train as a priestess once she was old enough. The analysts figured "volva" meant something like "oracle" or "seer," but that was all they could figure out.

By the time She hit Karachi, in Pakistan, the general population around the world had caught on, and started watching for Her to appear instead of running away whenever She did. There were websites tracking Her progress across the world, faithfully listing sightings by location, time, duration, everything that an excited nerd could think of to record. So yeah. Websites. Blogs. Photo galleries. Supposedly there was even a cult set up to worship Her. Naturally there were conspiracy theorists, and a handful of poor saps claiming to have been abducted by Her underlings. Whatever. A lot of people were watching to see when She would show up, so they could have a chance to talk with Her themselves.

It was in Greater Cairo that the timing finally worked out, and a news crew was on hand to catch Her first statement to the populace there. Translated from the Arabic:

"We seek the guardian known as Loki."

* * *

Loki.

Wasn't he supposed to be dead?

"Fucking _Loki._ Shit." Everybody on the team had said that at least once, with the exception of Steve because profanity was unbecoming, or something. But he was still thinking it.

After Cairo, She did a quick tour through the rest of Africa, but apart from Lagos in Nigeria, not many locations there had the sheer masses of people that seemed to attract Her, so it wasn't long before She showed up in Europe.

Istanbul; Moscow; and then finally, _finally,_ She turned up in Paris, and did Her thing, and someone was able to answer Her with more than a "Nope, never heard of 'em."

"I do not know this person," said the bystander, a youngish hipster-looking guy who stepped out of the crowd at her question, "but I recall hearing his name after an incident in Germany last year. And there are legends that someone called Loki was a god, but that was a long time ago. Another culture. Not here."

"Loki has come to your world before," She said. "That is irrelevant. We seek the guardian who protected your realm, recently."

"I am sorry, great lady," said the bystander, "all I know of him is what I heard. Germany. Munich, I think. Or it may have been a different city."

She nodded. "These are greater tidings than we have yet received in our quest. We shall smile upon you henceforth." Which was another sentence that made the SHIELD analysts go a little giddy and panicky all at once.

"Wait!" said the guy, just as she was preparing to vanish. "Great lady, if I may?"

She turned back, and the crowds grew silent. "What is your petition, messenger?"

"I would like to know—we all would like to know—what are you?"

"We are the sisters of Yggdrasil," She said, or at least that was what the linguistic people came up with. Apparently knowing that she was looking for Loki helped them figure out a couple things. For one, a "volva" was a type of seer or witch from Norse mythology, like maybe a shaman or something, who could intercede with the Norns on behalf of the worshipers of Norse deities. For another, they were pretty sure She was talking about "Yggdrasil", known in Norse mythology as the "World Tree," where all the "Nine Realms" were supposed to live. According to Thor, the Nine Realms all had similar atmosphere and gravity to Earth, and their intelligent life forms were all at least a little bit similar to humans. Which was pretty cool.

They still didn't know what it meant to be a "sister of Yggdrasil", much less "sisters", plural. They still didn't know why She was looking for Loki, either, and they _really_ didn't know why the hell She'd be on friendly terms with him, given everything the little shit had done the last time he'd shown up on Earth.

Still. It was something of a lead. They knew where She was headed, if nothing else, and for _obvious_ reasons, SHIELD was able to get clearance to send the Avengers into Germany, so they went ahead and did that. The team set up in Stuttgart, figuring She would get there eventually, and lo and behold.

"We seek the guardian known as Loki," She said. Whole crowds of people confirmed that, yeah, they knew who the hell he was.

Her oversize glass self didn't exactly have a lock on facial expressions, but She seemed perturbed at the response She was getting. So Captain America put his best foot forward.

"Ma'am," he said, "Loki attacked people when he was last here. In this city he terrorized a crowd of over two hundred people and removed a man's eye. Another few hundred were killed and thousands injured when he orchestrated an alien invasion over New York. We don't mean any disrespect, but we don't get why you're calling him a guardian of anything."

At this, the spheres inside Her body flashed brighter, and everyone got ready for a potential session of shit-hitting-fan; instead, though, all She did was tilt Her head and kinda smile.

"Do you not? Perhaps we will show you. You fought the guardian; did you also speak with him?"

"Uh, yeah," said Iron Man. "Guy was a few cards short of a full deck."

She stepped closer and bent low, and damn if it didn't look like She could see right through that mask and into the very soul of the guy inside the suit. "We are aware of the role he played." After a nerve-wracking moment, She stood and looked around. "We feel the traces of his presence here. Whither did he go after your battle?"

"Uh, well, the main battle wasn't here, princess. You want to take a look at New York? There's plenty of _traces_ of him there. We're still cleaning them up, as a matter of fact."

"Very well," She said, and stepped back and did the thing where she got ready to disappear.

"Oh-ho- _ho_ no, you don't," said Iron Man. "We have questions for you. Why you came to our world, first of all; why the hell you're looking for a psychotic egomaniacal killer would be the second one."

"Is the guardian in this New York?" She asked.

"No," said the captain, before Iron Man could butt in. "After we defeated him, he was taken back to Asgard for punishment."

"Punishment." The spheres in Her torso flared brightly. She stood tall and proud, and it was kind of a wonder, since up to this point all they'd gotten was sort of a robot feel off of Her—go to city, ask for Loki, leave. Rinse, repeat. Now here She was, showing emotions… at least, insofar as a giant, melted-glass statue-person could show emotions.

"To answer your first question, we came in search of the guardian, Loki. In answer to your second, we bear him tidings he would wish to hear."

"What, got another world for him to go try and take over?" muttered Hawkeye. Black Widow elbowed him discreetly.

She studied them all for a moment, surrounded by the gathered crowds and cameras of Stuttgart. "These tidings are not yours to hear," She said finally, "but you demand truth, and are ignorant of Loki's true intent in coming to Midgard. You are protectors of this world in your own right. Further, you amuse us. We will do him, and you, a service."

The idea of being offered something that would somehow be good for both them _and_ Loki was, again, more than a little dodgy.

"What service is that?" asked Captain America.

"Our tidings are for the guardian to hear," said She; "if the guardian is in Asgard, then we will go to Asgard…"

She took a step toward them, and the Avengers all watched as buildings just… _morphed_ into golden pillars and walls, and the pavement into buttery marble floor, and the crowds were replaced with a handful of soldiers and people in fancy outfits, all startling and reacting in various ways, moving toward them or away, as the team all looked around in shock.

"…and we will bring you with us."

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Avengers come to Asgard. Asgard isn't exactly thrilled.

Yeah, okay, there were soldiers headed toward them with spears or whatever, but the first order of business was to get Bruce calmed down. _He'd_ argued that they wouldn't need the Hulk, and _they'd_ argued that they would still need a cameraman and science monkey, so he'd been there with them, and now he was here. Asgard, apparently. Which would be awesome if Bruce wasn't looking all kinds of shaky right then.

"Whoa, whoa, hey Brucie, look at me. Look at me." Tony had his helmet retracted and one hand—gently!—on each of Bruce's shoulders. "No, no, don't look at them, they're not important, look at me. Look at me. That's it, just breathe."

"I know how to breathe, Tony," replied Bruce after a couple seconds. Still shaky, but back out of the danger zone.

"Good to know."

"State your business, intruders." This from a guy in armor not half as impressive as Tony's, but then Thor's armor hadn't been all that impressive either and he could kick plenty of ass. Looking around, they were surrounded, and none of these faces were all that cheerful.

"This wasn't our idea!" said Barton quickly. "We were talking with... _that,_ " he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the big glass statue, "and She got the bright idea to bring us with Her to… I'm guessing we're in Asgard."

"These are warriors of Midgard," She confirmed, "who demanded to know our business in Asgard. We decided it would be more effective to simply show them."

"And what is your business…" the leader eyed Her up and down for a second, "…and your name, lady?"

It was hard to tell, but Tony was pretty sure She smirked at the man. "We are the sisters of Yggdrasil, and you will bring us, and the mortals, before Odin, son of Bor."

Tony hadn't expected that to actually work. But apparently bringing up "Yggdrasil" in conversation was the equivalent of "knowing people" back on Earth, because next thing Tony knew, they were in. Well. They were in, after a couple of hoops to jump through and a little bit of kerfuffle (admittedly, perfectly reasonable to ask the foreigners to leave their weapons at the door, but the suit wasn't going anywhere).

"Does it help if we tell you we're friends of Thor's?"

The guard gave him a truly impressive side-eye. "You will not like the outcome if it turns out that you lie, mortal."

Tony shrugged. "So go ask him. To be honest I'm a little surprised he hasn't turned up already."

Big gold room with big gold pillars, and a big gold throne at the far end. Tony half-expected the guy sitting on it to be big and gold, too.

"So is that Odin?" asked Tony.

"That is the All-Father, king over the Nine Realms," said the guard. "You will show respect to him."

"No," said the big glass statue, and Tony fought the urge to face-palm. She turned to look up at the dais. "We owe you no obeisance, son of Bor."

"Ah yes," said the guy. "You, who call yourself a sister of Yggdrasil. What does that mean?"

"Do you not recognize us?" She smirked. "The people of Midgard once told stories claiming that you sacrificed your eye to Mimir's Well in exchange for wisdom. You, and we, know better, don't we, Deceiver?"

Odin ignored her for a moment. "You are humans, from Earth," he said. "Claiming to be friends of Thor. What is your business here, in Asgard?"

"They are our guests," said the big glass statue. "They, like you, demanded to know our business. We brought them here that they might observe, and learn the truth."

"And what truth is that? Why have you come?"

She said the same damn thing to him that She'd said over a dozen times around the world back home. "We seek the guardian, Loki."

"No." His tone flat, final. Tony, anticipating trouble, stepped back, slowly and carefully.

Her tone was equally flat in reply. "We will speak with him, Odin, son of Bor, son of Buri, Odin whose mother was Bestla of the line of Ymir," and Tony watched as the old guy's eye widened in surprise, "whether you give us _permission_ or no. You will bring the guardian before us, or we will tear down your palace and your precious city, stone by stone, until we are before _him_."

Whoa-kay, then. Tony snagged Bruce's collar and took another step back. "Can I just say that none of us are on board with this plan, Your Kingliness?" he piped up. "I mean, we were part of the crew that helped kick Loki's ass the last time he was on earth. If he's in prison or whatever, he can stay there, far as we're concerned."

"Your neutrality is duly noted," said Odin. "I trust you will keep to it." After a long couple of seconds, Odin gestured to a guard and nodded; the soldier took off, presumably for the dungeons or whatever, and Odin leaned back in his big gold throne and said nothing.

And said nothing.

Annnd said nothing… until finally Cap spoke up. "Thor mentioned an attack, the last time we spoke with him," he said. "I, uh, I hope the recovery is going well."

"We have rebuilt." Right. Not big on speeches, then. "Your concern is appreciated." Tony fought not to raise an eyebrow at that, because the words said one thing and the _tone_ said he could give a fat damn what the Earthlings thought. Ass.

It was a relief when they all heard the rattle of chains, way the hell down at the other end of the throne room. Tony turned to look, and damn. That was a little taste of _Silence of the Lambs,_ there, with the way they had Loki all trussed up. Four guards around him, two more holding freaking chains that came around Loki's waist like some kind of leash… as they got closer Tony could see that not only were his hands manacled together and attached to the waist chain, they were also connected by yet another length of chain to a heavy-metal-hardcore collar—a _collar_ , for God's sake—that looked like it had to weigh a ton.

All this for a guy in bare feet and rough-spun green pajamas. Of course, he didn't seem even the least bit fazed by all the hardware, and, y'know, New York happened because of him, so maybe it wasn't overkill.

He looked them all up and down appraisingly, before noticing Her and stopping dead in his tracks. The guards yanked on his chains and forced him forward, and Tony bit back a wince as he staggered forward, his balance hampered by the shackles on his ankles. There was a flicker of what Tony thought might be curiosity or even wonder on his face, before he peeled his attention away from Her and the corner of his mouth curled in a smirk. "Hello, _Odin._ Am I to provide entertainment for your visitors, this evening?"

Odin ignored him, but Tony caught the way Loki's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "You wished to speak to him," he said to Her; "speak, then, and begone. Asgard does not welcome any who call themselves friend to Loki."

"You forget your place, Bor's son," said She, and Loki blinked in surprise, before his eyebrows went up in amusement. "We have already told you, we do not bow to your whims. Nor are we pleased that you have caged the greatest hero of the Nine Realms as though he were nothing more than a beast."

"He committed crimes for which he must be punished," began Odin, but She held up a big glass hand to cut him off.

"Be silent, Bor's son. You are willfully ignorant, and we will hear no more from you." She waved her hand, and all the chains on Loki… crumbled. Freaking _crumbled_ , like dry sand, except that sand didn't glow gold and vanish once it hit the floor.

At this, Odin leapt to his feet, the guards leveled their spears and drew swords, and Tony began to actually worry. Naturally everyone else who was still carrying pulled their weapons at this point, including Tony with the suit (and of _course_ Natasha hadn't turned over everything she was carrying), but all Loki did was rub at the side of his neck where the collar had been, and look at Tall-Clear-and-Shiny suspiciously.

"I appreciate the gesture, illustrious ladies," said Loki, "but what is the meaning of this?" Respectfully, which was kind of something Tony hadn't thought Loki actually _did._

"We bear tidings, guardian, which will delight you to hear," said She.

Loki tipped his head in curiosity. "And why do you call me 'guardian'?"

The vessel stepped closer, her movement making a faint chiming sound in the quiet of the hall as She caressed his face with one transparent hand. "Because, dear child, we know what you have done for Yggdrasil. You have our gratitude, and our favor henceforth for your service. It is why we have come personally to speak to you." She paused, then added, "And because we suspected that the Deceiver would bar any volva or lesser Norn whom we might send in our stead."

"Loki," said Odin severely, "you will tell us what this creature is, at once."

Apparently, ignoring each other was just a thing this family did. Loki didn't even look at Odin as he asked softly, "Does he truly not know you, great ones?"

"We have told him we are the sisters of Yggdrasil," She said. "But the descendant of Ymir is blind in one eye, and blinded by hubris in the other."

"So it would seem," said Loki. Still soft, and that expression of wonder was back on his face.

Tony couldn't resist an unanswered question, it was his curse. "Care to enlighten the rest of us?" he asked.

Loki acknowledged him with a nod. "Your people, at least, can be forgiven your lack of understanding…" He smirked up at the guy on the dais. "Come, All-Father, can you truly not put the pieces together? What do our most sacred texts tell us? Whom do we refer to in our legends as the Three Sisters? Who is it that nurtures Yggdrasil itself from the waters of Urdhr's Well? Whom do we know who bear the colors black, and white, and red?" He shook his head. "Can you not tell that this form is no living being, but a vessel for Their united consciousness?"

Wait; so this thing was a machine after all?

"The Fates," said Bruce suddenly. All heads turned to him, and he blinked. "I mean, the Greeks and Romans called them the Fates. Or the Furies. The Norse myths called them the Norns." He shrugged at the looks his teammates were all giving him. "What? We had a couple of Norse gods show up, I did some reading. Quite a few cultures had either a trinity of goddesses, or a single goddess with three aspects: Maiden, Mother, and Crone."

"Past, present, and future. The weavers of fate," agreed Loki. "There are other Norns throughout the realms, many others in fact, but these three are foremost among them. Their power is beyond comprehension." He turned to the… what did he call it, vessel? "Am I permitted to call you by name?"

Okay. Loki being polite and respectful was just weird, and that was without even adding in the chains and the pajamas.

Odin, naturally, interrupted. "Urdhr, who rules all that has come to pass," he said as he came down the steps. "Verdhandi, who has dominion over the present moment, that which currently is. Skuld, who oversees what will or should or ought to be."

She—or maybe it was "They"—whatever, _the statue_ turned to look over its shoulder at Odin. "Does it displease you not to be the center of attention, Bestla's child? We advise you to get used to it. We did not come here to speak to _you_."

"You said you bore me tidings?" Loki smoothed the front of his pajama shirt. "I cannot imagine what would be of such great import that the Three Sisters themselves would come personally to share it with me."

She held out her hand, palm up. "Do you recognize this being?" Light flickered in Her palm, and then there was a figure standing there, about eye level to all of them, a couple feet tall. Some kind of alien, ugly, with a veil over the top of its face and some truly freaky wire headgear around its mouth and jaw. It stood hunched and leaning on a staff of some kind.

Loki _hissed,_ eyes wide, and stumbled backward with his teeth bared and his hands coming up into a defensive position. There was a ripple of green light along his hands and arms, just barely there and gone.

"We see that you do," said the Norns. "Fear not, guardian: our tidings to you are that he is dead." The image in her hand flickered again and vanished, leaving Loki standing there trying to hide what Tony recognized as a full-on panic attack, and everyone else wondering what the hell was going on. Even Barton was giving the guy an odd look.

"Wh-what?" He was blinking like crazy and breathing like he'd just run a mile. "What? How?"

"Another whom Thanos thought to take as a vassal. He slew the Other, then was later slain himself when he attempted to claim the Orb of Power for his own."

Loki swallowed, his face pale. "So Th—so the Titan holds the Orb, now?"

"No," She reassured him. "It was taken from him, contained by other guardians, and hidden beyond his reach."

Loki shut his eyes and actually swayed on his feet.

"Loki?" asked Odin, and his voice was warmer-sounding than Tony would have thought he was capable of. "My son. What is the meaning of this?" Which was a question Tony had been about 0.8 seconds away from asking, himself.

"You do not deserve to know, son of Bor," said the Norns, "but we have decreed that the time is right for the truth to be revealed. To all of you. Prepare a chamber," She commanded one of the guards; "Summon Thor," She said to another. "We, the Three Sisters, will sit in council with our fellow guardians of Yggdrasil."

* * *

 

"Weren't you supposed to be dead?" asked Tony, as they all trundled into what passed for a conference room in a big gold palace full of Norse gods. Still big and gold, but open along one whole wall to a huge balcony supported by graceful columns. The center of the room held a firepit that was actually in the center of a long, low table surrounded by cushions with a couple of curved benches at the corners. Off to one side, somebody had set up what looked like a decent-sized lunch buffet. Loki was still surrounded by guards, but none of them seemed quite sure what to do with themselves now that he wasn't chained up like somebody's really kinky Christmas present.

The Norns spoke up before Loki could respond to Tony. "All will be revealed in time."

"I would prefer we answer that question _now_ ," said a new voice. They all turned to see Thor coming through the door, looking as angry as Tony had ever seen him. He didn't appear to even notice the other people in the room, stalking into the room with his fists clenched and making a beeline for Loki. Once he reached his brother he grabbed him by the shirtfront and shoved him up against a pillar, hard. "How could you do this to me a second time?! How could you lie? Where have you been for the past year—what schemes of yours will I have to dismantle now? _How could you do this to me?!_ "

Loki, who had been struggling against Thor's hold, froze and looked up at Thor in shock. "Where have I—you really didn't know," he said in realization. "Odin never even bothered to tell you."

"Tell me what?" A flash of lightning streaked across the sky just outside the balcony.

"And here I thought you were just refusing to visit me, again, while you sulked that I had survived."

Thor shoved Loki into the column again. "Speak plainly, Loki, before I lose all patience with you."

Loki shoved him off. "Use your eyes, you—overgrown ox-brain. When was the last time you saw me dressed like this?" As Thor looked him up and down, he went on, "No doubt _your father_ will find some way to justify his not telling you, but I've been in the palace dungeons for the past several months. Perhaps he will claim he was trying to 'protect you from the truth'. It's something of a pattern for him."

Big Thunder stepped back, shaking his head. "He… no. He wouldn't—"

And because Odin had been enough of an ass that even the Fates didn't like him, Tony spoke up. "They brought him in all chained up and surrounded by guards, big guy."

"But you—I don't—you tricked me into believing you dead. I mourned you—again! I told Father you died a hero."

Loki glanced away for a second, then reached down and peeled his prison shirt off. "Go on," he said, "touch. You know my illusions are not solid."

They all could see what he was talking about: a vicious-looking, raised scar, a good four inches long, high on the left side of Loki's chest next to his nipple. Whatever had caused it had been recent enough that the scar was still that weird pinkish purple, stark against Loki's pale skin. Thor brushed his thumb across it, and his back was to Tony but he could still hear the hitch in the big guy's breathing.

"I was as surprised as you when I opened my eyes and discovered myself not on Helheim's shores," said Loki. "And as displeased about it as Odin, no doubt."

"Don't say such things," breathed Thor. "Brother—"

Loki turned away from him to put his shirt back on, and Tony grimaced when he caught a glimpse of a matching scar high on Loki's back… along with a bunch of faded white marks that looked like whip cuts. Loki froze for an instant as Thor rested his palm on that scar, then finished dressing. He turned back, and leaned in close to say something in Thor's ear; Jarvis picked it up for him: "What I said to you, brother, as I lay in the sand—what I said to you, I meant."

Thor took his brother's head in his hands and pressed their foreheads together. "Do not do that to me again," he said quietly. "I will beg you if I must. You are worthy of Valhalla, in my eyes, but do not go there yet."

"You never told me Loki died a hero's death, Thor," said Odin, and the two younger men turned to give him identical looks of displeasure. "It was not me you spoke to, but Loki, once again usurping the throne for himself."

"And a moment ago I was _your son_ once more." Loki rolled his eyes. "No. It was me disguised as a soldier, reporting myself dead so that I could finally be rid of any attachment to this wretched realm, and you collapsing into the Odinsleep _again._ I merely assumed the throne until you woke, while Thor returned to Midgard. Just like last time, minus the treachery on the part of my subjects."

Now Odin finally raised his voice. "You deceived all of Asgard!"

"I _led_ Asgard," said Loki with disdain. "Oversaw the recovery of _your_ precious domain from the attack. Put defenses in place, changed policies to prevent another incursion. I even watched over _you,_ to make certain you would survive the Sleep and not drown in your own magic and die, much though the realms would have been improved if you had. And let me be clear, so that you will _not_ attempt to take the credit, and Thor will _not_ assume I've miraculously returned to my family's loving bosom: my actions had nothing to do with caring for you. I wished to honor my mother's memory, and to protect my brother's heart, which despite your hatefulness would surely have broken if you had died so soon after your queen."

And Tony might not have been the best at reading people, but it kinda looked to him like Odin hadn't considered any of that before. "Loki…"

"Oh, be silent," he snapped. "I have no interest in listening to you heap disdain upon me and then expect me to be grateful to you for leaving me alive to hear it."

"Do you really dare to speak of deceit, child of Ymir's line?" asked the Norns. "You dare to accuse Loki while refusing to answer for your part in concealing his existence from his brother? You are a hypocrite, grasping with the last of your strength at what power remains to you, and clinging to it greedily, all the while pretending that you act for the good of your sons, or for Asgard, or for the Nine Realms." She drew Herself up to her full height and glared down her nose at the king. "You are here, in this chamber, on our sufferance. Do you annoy us further, and we will evict you. Anger us sufficiently, and we will cut your thread short. You are close enough to the end of your days as to make little difference, in the grand scheme of things."

Odin did not answer—Tony would have thought at least a fake apology would have been polite—but he did go a little pale, and sat down.

Thor looked around at the rest of the room, with his hand still on Loki's shoulder; took in the gathered Avengers, and the big glass statue, and Odin, and shook his head, bewildered. "I have so many questions, I hardly know where to begin."

"Short version," put in Hawkeye, gesturing toward Her, " _that's_ supposed to be a vessel for three big Norns, She's spent the past couple weeks wandering Earth looking for Loki, and when we asked Her why, she brought us all here. She claims he's some kind of hero, and we're all just _dying_ to hear the story they've cooked up together."

"Norns?" asked Thor under this breath.

"The Three Sisters," supplied Loki. Thor gaped at Loki, who only shrugged. Apparently deciding to leave that alone for now, he turned back to Barton.

"My brother is a hero," said Thor. "He saved my life and that of the Lady Jane Foster, more than once. I believed him to have died saving mine a final time, and he avenged our mother's murder besides. That he survived does not lessen the bravery of the act."

"He has been braver than you know, son of Odin," said the vessel. "The time has come for his deeds to become known."

"Forgive me, ladies," said Loki cautiously, "but why?"

"You are but one guardian, child; the Nine Realms require more. You need allies, and it may be that these here assembled will be some of them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been debating whether or not to shamelessly fish for reviews by posting a chapter at a time, or to just get the posting thing over with and get myself caught up here with where I am on FFnet. Is there a fanfic author out there who doesn't crave reviews? :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we begin a nice session of Storytime with Loki. Because the Norns said so.

Barton, naturally, lost his shit; Cap ended up holding him back and then pulling him off to one side of the room until he could get it together again, while Natasha folded her arms and gave Loki the Glare of Death.

"You've gotta admit, that's gonna be pretty hard to swallow," said Bruce.

"Listen, and then decide, son of Brian," She replied, and Tony watched as the muscles in Bruce's jaw twitched.

"Brother?" Thor still hadn't left Loki's side and couldn't seem to make himself stop touching him either, which, understandable given that he'd thought Loki was dead this whole time. Odin was taking another level in asshattery with every minute that passed. "Where will you begin your tale?"

"I would prefer to tell as little of it as possible," he replied, licking his lips. He made no move toward the table.

"We would have you tell it all, guardian," said the Norns, "that these mortals may fully understand your motives and the magnitude of your deeds."

A brief look of utter weariness crossed Loki's face. "Is this truly your command, great ladies?" Tony could hear the undertone, loud and clear: _What are you going to use me for this time?_

"It is necessary, child."

Loki glanced away, blinking rapidly. He scanned everyone in the room, and searched Thor's face for a long moment, before he nodded. He moved to the foot of the table, since Odin had already taken the head (of course), and sat gracefully. "Then I shall begin, I think, first with a geography lesson, followed by a biography, and then the history of the past few years."

"Sounds like you're stalling," said Natasha.

Loki just shook his head with a little smirk. "Background information you will require, if the rest of the tale is to make any sense."

One by one the others gathered and sat. Loki placed one palm on the table, and when he spread his fingers, a… hologram, maybe? leaped into being, filling the table and stretching all the way up to the ceiling. Bright glowing dots arranged in clusters and filaments. Leaning in close, Tony could see they were galaxies.

"A map of the universe," he said.

Loki nodded. "Your people have a rudimentary understanding of the cosmos, I believe, correct? You understood before meeting Thor that yours were not the only planets to exist, that there was always the possibility that life could exist on others?"

"We still have some questions, and until Thor we hadn't actually met any of that life, but yeah," said Bruce. "One of the big ones is that the universe is expanding faster than the quantity of observable matter can account for. We can sort of measure what we call 'dark matter' based on the gravitational effects it has on large astronomical bodies, but there's also a hypothetical 'dark energy' that, along with dark matter, makes up something like ninety-five percent of the universe."

Loki nodded. "That energy does exist, and while your current machinery cannot detect it, some living beings can. And we can manipulate it to interact with the world as we see fit."

"Magic," said Barton flatly. "You're talking about fu… freakin' magic."

"In essence, yes," said Loki. "What your people may not have theorized yet is that the energy itself has a _flow,_ albeit on a far larger scale than you can imagine."

He shifted his hand, and the image over the table changed. The shape of a glowing white tree emerged along one side of the map, flowing through the empty spaces between galaxies until they resembled leaves on the tree.

It was beautiful.

At another gesture from Loki, the parts of the map that weren't connected to the tree vanished. The remainder of the image zoomed in, and a handful of the galaxies that were still visible became encased in colored orbs, spaced at intervals throughout the tree's branches and trunk.

"Yggdrasil," said Loki. "Or at least, a very much simplified version of it. The World Tree, which interconnects all the Nine Realms. Her leaves are galaxies; the Nine Realms are her fruit. Life on these specific planets tends to be remarkably similar, all the way down to the length of years and days on our worlds. Consider, otherwise, the statistical probability of you and I being able to breathe the same atmosphere, or endure the same strength of gravity. Or even to eat the same foods without being poisoned; at best, it would make more sense if we were completely unable to digest anything not from our own respective realms. Asgard does not _feel_ markedly different from your world, does it?"

Tony blinked, thinking about it. Sure, things _smelled_ different, but… "Huh."

"The dark energy that flows through the World Tree connects these realms and no others, and makes them similar. The flow also makes it possible for machines to create pathways that follow the branches of the Tree, allowing for travel between realms." He paused, then added, "There are other ways to travel, but they require an innate talent, which no machinery can imitate."

"One of your names in our old myths was Sky-Treader," recalled Bruce. He ducked his head and ran a hand through his hair. "Or, you know, Sky Walker…"

"Skywalker?" Tony piped up. "Luke Skywalker?! Are you _kidding_ me?"

All the humans at the table gave Tony a look to shut him up, but seriously. The whole _Luke, I am your father_ thing had better not apply here, or… Tony had no idea what he'd actually do about it, but his brain might explode.

Loki lifted a hand and drew a little circle with his finger, and the space around the tree warped, pulling branches of the tree toward one another until two fruits were nearly touching. "The machinery which we use on Asgard is called the Bifrost. Thor came via Bifrost when he first traveled to your world; it partially utilizes dark energy and dark matter to craft a kind of tunnel through the void, and direct its path. Another way to represent it might be…" He tilted his head, and did something else with his fingers. The tree's shape snapped back to normal, and instead there was a smoothly curving arc drawn between the two orbs. "A Bifrost bridge is more accurately portrayed in the first image: a warping of space and all it contains. But from the perspective of the traveler, it appears like this. A vortex is created, rather like a whirlpool in water; the traveler is caught up in its flow and deposited at the far point. It is necessary to anchor each end of the vortex, or its motion cannot be controlled."

Tony was still wearing the suit, with his mask resting on the table; with what he hoped was a subtle shift, he aimed the eye cameras at Loki, knowing Jarvis—even the limited version he had in the suit without access to the main servers—would take the hint and record everything. Just knowing that some of this stuff was concretely possible was going to push forward the boundaries of science into whole new areas of study.

"Now," said Loki, glancing at the vessel where She stood off to one side, "it is posited by many that if there is one World Tree, there is no reason for there not to be another such tree, or more than one, elsewhere in the universe. However, until recently it was accepted that a Bifrost could not reach any location that lay outside the branches of its own tree. I… discovered differently. Unintentionally, and to my great regret."

"Loki…"

Thor was squeezing his shoulder and looking distressed, and even Odin was studying his younger son intently, but he just shook his head.

"Enough of cosmology for now, though we will return to it," he said, licking his lips. "Now for the biography." He leaned back in his seat, staring at nothing with a thoughtful frown on his face, before he appeared to have an idea. "Mortals… your kind. You live for, what? Approximately sixty years?"

"Average worldwide is in the eighties," corrected Bruce. "Good health and good genetics, it's possible to make it past one hundred, though that's pretty rare."

Loki nodded. "Whereas we live for thousands," and Tony choked. "Even so, your medicine seeks to find ways to prolong life, does it not? Ways to snatch the gravely ill or the severely injured away from the brink, buy them more time?"

Bruce nodded. Tony fought the urge to reach for his chest.

"I want you to imagine a being who embarked on a similar quest, a very long time ago, and succeeded in finding a way to deny death's embrace—succeeded too well. He literally, truly, cannot die… and it has driven him mad." He took a shaky breath. "I will not speak his name, though perhaps Thor or Odin might."

"Thanos," said Odin immediately. "The Mad Titan."

"I thought he was merely a legend," frowned Thor.

"No." Odin studied Loki's face, his own expression remote. "No, he is real, or was."

"Is," said Loki, with a bit of edge in his voice. "I had the misfortune of meeting him."

Odin narrowed his eye intently at Loki, while Thor only looked worried. "Why did you not tell us this, brother?"

Loki bared his teeth for the briefest of moments, clearly struggling for calm. "I would not tell you of that time even now, were it not for the insistence of the Norns themselves."

There weren't enough talk-show hosts in the room to deal with all their family baggage; Tony raised a hand before they could all start up even more drama. "Excuse me? Refresher course on this Thanos guy, for the rest of us?" And wait a second… did Loki actually flash him a look of _gratitude_ for pulling them all back on-topic?

"The Titan was once a scholar among his people," said Loki, "and he found a way to prolong his life indefinitely. Whatever secrets he discovered have been lost to time now; it is only known that, as the decades passed and friends and family died, he realized too late that his discovery was a curse and not a gift. What he had done to himself could not be undone."

Tony glanced around at Cap, who looked a little too sober, and Bruce who was hiding a shudder.

"He began attempting more and more outlandish ways to end his life," Loki continued, "all of them failing. But facing mortal peril is still… scarring. Traumatic on an instinctual level, even if one's body is immune to the usual outcome. His mind began to fray, and surviving accounts from the time indicate that he eviscerated his own mother, for daring to bring him into a world he would not be permitted to leave. As the eons passed—and I use the term advisedly—all his people aged and died without him, leaving him the sole survivor of an otherwise extinct species. He grew increasingly desperate to join them, and increasingly mad with each failed attempt. Eventually, his sanity departed him completely. And now, instead of seeing death as a biological process, which he cannot complete, the Titan believes with a _fanatic_ passion that death is a sentient being—and he, craving death, believes himself in love with this being. He sees her as a coquette, teasing him with the deaths of living beings all around him while not bestowing her attentions on him. The Titan now attempts to win Death's favor, by attracting her notice and sending her _gifts_."

"Gifts?" asked Natasha, eyebrow raised.

"Mass slaughter, in her name," he answered quietly. "The deaths of millions of beings at a time, their souls sent across the threshold between this life and the next as sacrifices to her glory… or perhaps additions to her army, or messengers from her lover, or even jewels in her crown." Loki shook his head. "That part is a bit unclear. But the rest is irrefutable."

"Thanos was banished from the Nine, long ago," said Odin. "Histories claim he was impossible to defeat, not only because he was impossible to kill but because he had no care for how many of his soldiers were slain in battle." He glanced at Loki once. "Histories also claim that he once threw himself into the heart of a star; I had believed this to be exaggeration, or perhaps a demonstration of his might. I had not considered the possibility that it was an attempt at suicide."

"And that _failed_?" asked Clint, his eyebrows climbing.

"Yes," said She, and everyone turned to look at Her. "It took the combined strength of the most powerful seidmadr among all the realms to subdue him long enough to remove him physically from the Nine Realms and bar him from returning."

"Seid… what?" asked Cap.

"Magic users," said Loki. "Like myself."

She nodded. "Hundreds of them, from every species in the Nine Realms, among both the living and the dead. The sheer magnitude of the effort required destroyed more than three-quarters of them. Those seidmadr who survived were permanently damaged, their ability to use magic essentially burned out of them. Such an injury is excruciating to endure. Most died by their own hands rather than continue to suffer."

And it was Loki's turn to shudder in his seat… along with Odin, Tony noticed, and even Thor.

Well. Shit.

"The living and the dead?" asked Barton. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Two of the Nine Realms are home to the souls of the dead," said Thor matter-of-factly. "The other seven are inhabited by the living."

Okay, wait. What?

Tony and Clint weren't the only ones sputtering. "You're talking about an afterlife," said Steve. "We have dozens of religions on Earth that have their own beliefs about what happens to us after we die. And now you're trying to claim that… that what?"

"We claim nothing, Captain," said Thor.

"Mortals generally believe that while life ends, the immortal soul continues on," said the Norns. "This belief is correct."

Loki tipped his head back and forth. "To your people, the afterlife, as you call it, is purely hypothetical; whether it even exists is a matter of faith," he said. "To us, the afterlife is a location. Somewhat... layered over the realms of the living. Occupying the same space at the same time. Difficult to access by the living, and one breaks several rules by doing so, but not impossible."

"Let's set that aside for a minute." Natasha leaned forward in her seat, arms folded on the table. "You said you left the Nine Realms, and met this Thanos. You were working for him?"

Loki started to answer, but the vessel cut him off. "That part of the tale will be revealed in its proper time," She said. "The guardian must tell his tale from its beginning."

Loki slid his hands off the table and into his lap, the image of the World Tree flickering out. He glanced at Her, the Norns' vessel or whatever. "Is the rest truly necessary?" he asked.

"We are willing to tell the story on your behalf," She said, her glass body chiming softly as she stepped forward.

"No." He looked away. "No, I will do it. I merely fail to see the purpose in doing so." He met Her gaze again, tipping his head to take in the rest of them. "Do you expect I will somehow win their sympathies for my actions?"

"We think you may be surprised," said She.

"With respect," he retorted, "I think you may be as well."

"We are not often wrong, child," said the Norns; "after all, we know the essential nature of every soul ever to inhabit Yggdrasil."

Loki sat back in his seat, propped his elbows on the arms of the chair, and clasped his hands, pressing his fingers hard against his forehead. He didn't move, and he didn't talk. Apparently long awkward silences were a thing they did in this family, so Tony decided it was his turn to speak up.

"Why send a glowing glass statue to come talk to us instead of just coming in person?" he asked. Loki actually scoffed behind his hands.

"Do you not recall the immensity of the World Tree, the sheer scale of its branches? Can you not imagine the magnitude of the energies that comprise the Tree's structure?" He tipped his head just enough to look at Tony with one eye. "The Three Sisters _nurture_ the World Tree. They _feed and water it._ It is a flow of immense energy, and they _direct_ that flow. They know the precise location of every particle of its composition. They are beings of such power that your minds could not even look upon them without shattering. Were they to come here in person, the touch of a single footprint would be sufficient to unmake this realm _into its constituent atoms_. I said before that the Nine Realms are the fruits of Yggdrasil, Stark—the Three Sisters are its _gardeners_. They could pluck Asgard from existence as easily as you might pick an apple from the palace orchards, just outside."

"…And you don't want to do what they ask, because…?"

Loki hid his eye away again, and said tiredly, "Do you really think that having their attention, much less their favor, is truly a good thing? Your mortal philosophers debate the nature of and struggle between the concept of fate and free will, but to you that is all they are, merely concepts. To us… well." He waved one hand at the vessel and huffed a bitter laugh, without looking up. "Here they are."

"Are you trying to say there's no such thing as free will?" asked Bruce.

"No. But you only have freedom for as long as you are insignificant enough to escape their notice." Tony grimaced, remembering that She had said the Avengers _amused_ Her. From pressing his fingers to his forehead, Loki shifted, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes as he added, "Do you really think I want to be their _favorite_ , when it really only means I am to be their plaything from now until they tire of me?"

Thor turned, and it was kinda sweet in a hopeless sort of way to watch him try to put himself physically between Loki and Her. You know, as if it would help at all.

"Maybe you shouldn't have called attention to yourself," snarked Barton, and Loki just dropped his hands in his lap to look at him tiredly.

"You seem to believe that you haven't," was all he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pedantic nerd note: The Norse alphabet includes two letters, "thorn" and "eth", which in English are both approximated by writing "th". Thorn is unvoiced, as in the word "thing", where Eth is voiced, as in the word "this". In this fic, I've chosen somewhat inconsistently to use "dh" to try and represent Eth, so I've written Verdhandi instead of Verdandi, and Urdhr where some scholars write Urd or Urdr or even Wyrd. I say I'm inconsistent, because it didn't occur to me to do this with "seidr" or "seidmadr".
> 
> Really, really pedantic note: The plural of "seidmadr" is "seidmenn" but I didn't know that at the time I started writing this story, and I'm not interested in going back to correct it now. The feminine is "seidkona" and the plural for that is "seidkonur", which I also didn't know.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the plot runs away from the author.

"Your grievance will be addressed in due time, archer," said the big glass statue, as Barton scowled. "Guardian: begin."

Loki nodded, and Thor's hand came up to squeeze the back of his neck. "The beginning… I was raised the second prince of Asgard, not destined to inherit the throne. The man who claimed to be my father used to tell us that we were both born to be kings. I could never understand why he would try to instill resentment and competition in us, when all knew that the honor would one day be given to Thor. I didn't realize until very recently that the words were his cryptic way of saying that I was not really his son, and never had been."

"That is not true," said Odin, but Loki cut him off with a sneer.

"I am only your son when it is convenient to you. The last time we spoke you reminded me that my true birthright was to _die in infancy_. You told me that I ought to be grateful you had _let me live_ long enough to despise you. It was you who took your name from me; yet now, when the sisters of Yggdrasil come seeking me, _now_ you wish to claim me once more? I suppose it has occurred to you that perhaps you can get some use out of me after all. How terribly fortuitous for you, _All-Father_." He sat back with a look of disgust on his face. "You have not yet paused to consider, _Odin,_ that perhaps I have no desire to claim _you_."

Tony raised an eyebrow. Sure, he was taking all this with a grain of salt, but if any of it was true, well, it sounded like maybe Odin and Howard could have gone bowling together sometime.

"You did not always think this way," said Thor, and Tony grimaced at the pain in his voice. Talk about being caught in the middle.

"No," agreed Loki. "No, I was blinded to the truth for most of my life. I spent centuries believing that I might somehow earn the favor that Odin gave so freely to you, Asgard's golden son. I did not expect to win the throne, but a little respect would not have gone amiss."

Barton rolled his eyes.

"The trouble was," Loki continued, "Odin's favored son _received_ favor he had not necessarily _earned_. He grew to believe himself infallible, failed to consider the consequences of his actions, or even that there were any consequences. He lived at the center of his world, on a blissful island crafted of his own arrogance and sustained by the constant praises of the sycophants he called friends."

Thor cleared his throat and scowled, but didn't say anything to refute Loki's claims. Interesting.

"Uh, are you sure we're talking about the same guy, here?" asked Bruce. Barton snickered, but Thor… actually turned a little red. Huh.

"You met me after the events Loki speaks of," he said, "but his description is accurate."

"I perhaps contributed to the problem," Loki said with a shrug, "given that I spent far too much time cleaning up your messes for you. You never learned how to deal with the aftermath of your recklessness."

"Sounds like good gossip," Tony piped up. "Got any examples?"

Loki sighed. "The dragon."

Thor groaned. "Not this again."

"Yes, again," bickered Loki, "you're the one who refuses to believe a word I tell you about the entire fiasco."

"Because you're exaggerating—"

"I do no such—"

"Okay, okay," Steve interjected. "Just… tell the story. Or else skip it, because I don't see how this would tie in with what the, uh, Norns want you to tell us."

"I want the gossip," said Tony.

"I, too, wish to hear this tale," put in Odin, which actually seemed to surprise Loki a little.

"When Thor and his friends were younger," (" _Our_ friends," muttered Thor), "they enjoyed hunting dangerous beasts and searching for legendary treasures. Questing for glory, they called it. And I accompanied them; my brother and I were inseparable at the time, but I also felt compelled to make sure the idiots didn't get themselves killed through sheer stupidity. But there was one quest they wanted to embark on, one legend that they discovered _only ancestors know where,_ " and here, he threw a blistering glare at Thor, "from which I attempted to dissuade them. A dragon, according to the tale, which had amassed a fortune by plundering the bodies of its victims." He broke off for a second, glanced sideways at his brother. "You _do_ know they get that pile of gold into their caves by _eating_ the people and _defecating_ whatever they cannot entirely digest, right?"

"Loki!" Thor buried is face in his hands, but Tony could see he was hiding an embarrassed grin. Tony couldn't help it, he snickered. And so did Barton, clearly against his better judgment.

"No matter," said Loki cheerfully, "all that was important to Thor and his hangers-on was that there was a fearsome beast to be slain and fantastic wealth to be won. It was utterly inconsequential that dragons who are successful enough to acquire a hoard are rare, intelligent, and deadly. Of no importance whatsoever the location of this dragon's cave, nor its age, nor even the fact that it had a _name_."

Odin folded his arms and leveled a dangerous stare at the two men seated at the foot of the table, while Thor rubbed the back of his neck and turned a little pink.

"I gather that's a big deal?" asked Bruce.

"Dragons tend to earn a name for themselves from the people who have the misfortune of living nearby, or from the stories told by the few who survive their attacks. Named dragons are distinguished by being exceptionally dangerous and by having established a territory from which they cannot be expelled. They become, in essence, landmarks to be avoided at all cost."

Odin was looking at Thor with his eye narrowed and his lips pressed together. "And what was the name of this dragon?" he asked.

"Skandranon the Black," said Loki mildly, and Odin slammed both hands on the table as he stood.

"You did what!"

"Didn't tell your dad where you were going, did ya?" said Tony.

"You were foolish enough to challenge _that_ dragon with only the six of you? What madness afflicted you that you would think such a quest to be a good idea?!"

"Everything worked out in the end—"

"Were you _cursed_ with stupidity, or had you taken too many blows to the head during training and addled your wits?!" Odin threw one last glare at his son before sitting back down and turning to Loki. "How long ago was this?" he demanded.

"Oh, two hundred fifty, perhaps three hundred years ago," said Loki helpfully.

"Foolish boy!" said Odin. "And I am as great a fool, because I was optimistic enough to believe you had only become so arrogant and bloodthirsty in the years leading up to your coronation."

"I tried to tell you," shrugged Loki, but Odin squinted at him in _supreme_ skepticism.

"Do not pretend you are innocent in this," he said.

"Oh, far from it," said Loki, "I was there, after all. How could I tell you what an idiot your precious boy was being, without implicating myself?" He leaned forward. "But the arrogance and blood thirst, as you put it, were entirely on his shoulders, not mine. And I _did_ try to tell you about those. Repeatedly. I attempted to _show_ you, repeatedly. You found excuses for his behavior, every time."

"Okay, but dragon," said Tony. Odin _clearly_ wanted to keep the discussion going, but he took one look at the Norn statue and leaned back, scowling. "Setting the family drama aside, why was this example so important—because the dragon was a badass? I got the impression that taking on badass manly challenges was kind of their hobby."

Loki took a breath to settle himself. "This particular tale," he said, "is representative of everything that was wrong with Thor's character for a very long time—although I will acknowledge that he has changed—and representative also of our interactions as brothers. You see, this dragon ought quite easily to have slaughtered the five of them."

"You always say that—"

"Because it is _true_ ," insisted Loki, "and if you still call yourself my brother you will _shut up and listen_ for once! Skandranon the Black was legendary for a _reason,_ Thor, and a handful of louts with swords and blunt instruments would merely have made a pleasant _snack_ for him… except that the spells I cast ensured that he could not _see_ you to devour you whole."

He raised his eyebrows at Thor, waiting for a response, but Thor only gaped at him.

"You and the rest of the idiots mocked me for staying to the rear and not engaging with a dragon as old as Odin himself, a dragon who I'm quite sure had faced more than one band of would-be heroes and _made a meal out of them_. As it happens, I did a little reading before we ventured forth, and the records indicate that more than one _battalion_ was destroyed in combat with the beast."

Thor choked. Odin glared. Both of them were turning redder and redder for entirely different reasons, and it was all Tony could do not to let them distract him from Loki's story.

"So, yes, despite your mockery, I stayed to the rear. I stayed to the rear where I could keep an eye on the entire battle and call out a warning when, say, Hogun was about to be decapitated by the beast. I stayed to the rear where I was able to see Skandranon's mighty wings sweeping down to flatten you all, and shred them with throwing knives from a _safe distance_ like a sensible person. But did you realize this?" Loki crossed his arms and glared, the rest of them forgotten. "No. Because you never even noticed, nor bothered to ask. Not one of you asked, Thor, you all just congratulated yourselves on a magnificent kill and turned to laugh at and mock Loki the sneak, Loki the coward, Loki who had better not expect to get any of the treasure since he hadn't done a thing in the fight!"

Tony snuck a quick glance around, to see everyone else as caught up in the story as he'd been. Barton, naturally, looked highly doubtful of Loki's version of events, but the Norn statue was standing to one side with a smile on Her face.

"As punishment," Loki went on, "the lot of you decided that since you were all tired from your exertions and I hadn't done anything, I should be given first watch. Which was actually fine with me, because the magic pouring off that hoard was enough to keep me awake all night with a blinding headache. It was _cursed_ , you moron. Skandranon was old enough to have seidr of his own, _and he used it_. The hoard itself would have brought ill luck and death upon any who touched it, and underneath that blanket spell there were nearly a score of individual artifacts that each had curses of their own. A blade that would turn against its wielder, a handful of other weapons that would bring misfortune to whomever bore them. A pair of gloves that would turn the wearer to stone. A coat of mail that would burn into the flesh of the first person to try it on. A poisoned drinking horn." He smiled sarcastically at his brother. "This would be the part where you tell me I am exaggerating."

"You've never gone into such detail before—"

"Because you never let me."

"It is true," put in Odin unexpectedly. "Skandranon the Black was a threat even in my youth, when tales of his viciousness and of the curses laid upon his hoard were more widespread. I remember the drinking horn especially. There was one thief who managed to steal it from the dragon as he slept, and brought it to a tavern to boast. They filled it with the finest mead and passed it around in celebration, and mere hours later every single person who had drunk of it died in agony, contorting their bodies and foaming at the mouth like diseased wolves. The servants in the tavern were not permitted to drink, and they alone lived to witness the horror, and spread the tale." He leaned back in his seat, studying Loki as if he'd never seen him before. "A few days later the dragon crept from his lair, to recover the horn and feast upon the corpses."

"Eugh," said Tony. Everyone around the table shuddered.

"I spent the entirety of my watch and Volstagg's disrupting and unraveling curses, where I could," said Loki. "There were at least five that I could only mitigate, rather than dispelling them completely. I chose to take those onto myself, rather than watch them be inflicted upon my brother and our closest friends. And oh, how grateful you all were… Do you recall when Hogun woke you all, by dragging me out into the circle by the fire and accusing me of trying to pilfer the finest pieces for myself?"

"I remember thinking it odd that you…" Thor turned pale as his eyes grew wide in realization. "You were wearing a coat of mail, and I thought it strange because you had not taken off your other armor to put it on. You… tell me that you were not—"

"He was," said the Norns. "We watched, and were pleased with his bravery. Those curses that Loki could not break completely, he took upon himself, and suffered their diminished effects."

Thor put one hand over his mouth and dragged down. "You were sick, after we returned," he said. From his voice, it sounded like the big guy as about to be a little sick himself.

"I was," said Loki, "ill for a little over a month as the curses worked their way through my flesh, until they either ran their course or I was able to defeat them."

"The pendant weakened him until he could barely stand," said the Norns. "The gloves numbed his hands and arms. The coat of mail burned him, even through his clothing. Your beloved brother was in excruciating pain for the rest of your journey and for weeks afterward, and you, son of Odin, never even noticed."

Loki shook his head and smiled sadly. "And Sif told everyone who would listen that I was better suited to be a court maiden than she was, because I was so delicate and afraid to fight. Fandral thought it a fine jest." Loki said it quietly, with no venom in his voice, but Tony could hear the pain he was trying to mask. Old hurts were the worst. "Volstagg was furious that I had done something to the _magnificent_ drinking horn he'd been hoping to have for himself, so that whatever was poured into it would be turned to foul-smelling ink. Wasteful and petty, he called it. Hogun glared at me and refused to leave any of his things unattended or out of arm's reach whenever I came into the room, for _years_ afterward."

Thor looked at him, stricken. He was silent for a long moment before asking, his voice breaking, "Why did you not tell us any of this?"

"You never asked," said Loki simply. "None of you asked what I was doing, or why. You never have, not in all my lifetime, Thor. Instead, one or another of you would leap to accuse me of whatever underhanded scheme _you_ might come up with, the others would agree that of course, Loki was up to his usual mischief, and that would be the end of all discussion on the matter. Not once did any of you even seek to confirm your accusations. And why would you? All know that Loki is an unrepentant liar."

Thor took a shaky breath, but Odin spoke up before he could say anything himself. "Loki. Do you have proof of this tale?"

Loki laughed bitterly. "Forgive me, All-Father, I am merely taking stock of the number of times you have asked Thor for any proof of _his_ outlandish boasts. And yet your skepticism is still an improvement over your usual approach. But yes," he smirked. "Assuming my chambers remain untouched, and my personal belongings were not burned, the drinking horn is mounted in my study, on the left-hand wall above my desk. You may examine it, if you feel you must, and see if it resembles the one described in the old tales."

Odin got up and moved to the door, where Tony could hear him speaking to someone. Loki turned to the rest of them, taking in their expressions with a sardonic smile. "And there is a perfect example of the nature of our relationship, for centuries: Thor would get an idea into his head that was likely to get him and everyone around him killed, I would prevent a disaster or clean up after one, and Thor would receive credit for his daring heroics, never the wiser for his success, never considering that there had ever been a chance things might not have gone perfectly his way. As I said before, I suppose I must bear some of the blame for the arrogance he developed, since I could never bear to _allow_ him to face those consequences, but that is beside the point. The point is that Asgard ended up, after centuries of this nonsense going unchecked by any sort of discipline, with a prince who was nearly of age to inherit the throne, and who could not possibly have been less suited for the role."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't consider this to be my best work. I dunno if my day job as an editor is distracting me or what, but I can't seem to keep these characters on track. Or, you know, maybe it's that the scene that kicked off this entire story idea was in Chapter 2 and now I'm just running with it.
> 
> Credit where it is due: the idea for the encounter with the dragon was inspired by "Loki's Journey" by Scfilover on FFnet, although I took what was about a paragraph from that story and greatly expanded it. (And I'd include a link here if I could figure out how to do that.)
> 
> The name "Skandranon the Black", which I thought had come from the Dragonlance series of novels, is actually the titular character of Mercedes Lackey's "The Black Gryphon". That Skandranon is actually a much nicer character than the dragon here. I thought about changing the name but then decided it might be an entertaining Easter egg for anyone who recognized it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Avengers explain the concept of racism to Odin.

They were all quiet for a second, before Natasha spoke up. "You said your personal belongings might have been burned. Is that something they do to criminals here?"

"No," replied Loki. "That is what they do for people who have died. Which I was assumed to have done, about a year prior to my arrival on Midgard."

"Okay, wait, _dead_?"

Clint leaned toward Natasha. "Shame that didn't take."

Loki sighed. "We'll get there, Agent Barton. I'm sure the tale will amuse you." He looked over at the Norns' vessel again, with what Tony thought was pretty much the ultimate _do-I-have-to_ face; when She said nothing, he sighed again and stood.

"Where the hell you think you're going?" asked Barton.

"I require something to drink, if I must tell the rest of this."

"Sounds like an _excellent_ plan to me," said Tony, and he got up and clanked his way over to the sideboard too. "Cap? Brucie? I bet they got stuff here that would even mellow out the two of you. Anyone?" He looked over the pitchers and bottles for a second before picking one and holding it up to his nose. "Always wondered what the hell mead was, anyway."

"Wine is made from grapes," said Loki, "and mead is made from honey. Other than that they are identical."

"Wait. That's _it?_ "

"Sorry to disappoint," he smirked, and gave a little salute with his cup, some kind of animal horn that had been filed and capped to give it a flat bottom, with silver worked into its rim.

"Well, what are you having?" asked Tony, and Loki just smirked again.

"Something that would kill you, I'm afraid. Ordinarily one drinks this particular brew diluted and heavily sweetened, but…" He tossed back the contents of his cup and downed it in two gulps, then gave the kind of full-body shudder Tony only associated with, like, really nasty cough medicine. "If the Norns give me no choice but to tell a room full of mortals of the worst, most humiliating moments of my life, then I will at least choose not to be sober for it."

"Did that taste as horrible as you made it look?" asked Tony.

"Worse." Loki reached over to another pitcher and refilled his cup with something golden and slightly syrupy, then poured a second cup for Tony. "If you want to be able to remember any of this tale, I'd suggest you keep to the mead."

So. Drinks and snacks all around, everybody back at the table, and by the time Tony sat back down Odin was examining a big, fancy version of Loki's horn cup. Like, instead of being capped and turned into a cup, it was a full-size animal horn, at least a foot and a half long, and the sharp point of the horn was tipped in gold. In addition to that and the rim edging, the entire horn was carved with scenes and figures and curly stuff that Pepper with her appreciation for art would probably recognize, and half of those carvings were filled in or bordered with gold, too. As they watched, Odin poured his own cup of mead into the horn, carefully, then wrinkled his nose before he schooled his expression. From the horn, he poured back into the cup not mead but a slightly foamy, completely black sludge, which absolutely _stank._ Like, enough to make Tony's eyes water. Talk about nasty liquor.

Yeah, nobody would be drinking out of that one, that was for sure.

Odin tried to catch Loki's eye, his gaze somber, and Thor kept glancing back and forth between the horn and Loki, but Loki himself ignored them both as he sat back down.

"To recapitulate the tale," he said, "we have Thor, arrogant, hot-tempered, and oblivious; we have Odin, who for whatever reason overlooked Thor's many faults while preparing to give him the throne of Asgard; and we have myself, whom Odin overlooked entirely, for reasons which will become clear." Barton scoffed. Loki ignored that, too. "By the time the events took place which I am about to describe, I had become resentful. Not envious, despite what Sif and others would have us all believe, but deeply frustrated, and fearful for Asgard's future. And for Thor, I suppose. Were he to take the throne at that time, he not only would have led the kingdom to ruin, he likely would have prompted either a war or multiple assassination attempts, and eventually one of those attempts would have succeeded."

"Not you?" asked Widow, her eyebrow raised.

Loki gave her question some serious thought. "Not at that time," he said finally. "I loved my brother then, and still do, even if I occasionally hated him as well. If things had continued on that same path, who can say? I like to believe it would never have come to that, but I am not one of the Three Sisters."

He drew his fingers across his lower lip, looking off into space. "In retrospect, I believe that I made all of the worst possible choices, motivated by the best of all possible intentions. And each decision made, each poor choice, narrowed my options further, while I struggled to keep up with events that, like frightened crows, took wing and quickly flew beyond all hope of control, in every direction." He shut his eyes once, opened them again as he took a swallow of his drink.

"Is this regret, Loki?" asked Odin. Again with that oddly warm tone that Tony didn't expect, given what an ass the guy had been up to that point.

The younger man glared at the elder. "The only way I will be able to stomach the telling of this story is if I pretend you are not in the room, All-Father," he said. "I would take it as a kindness if you were to do what you could to aid in that pretense."

"It is not an unreasonable question, brother," said Thor carefully, and Loki sighed.

"I have had ample time to reflect, since everything happened," he said. He glanced around the room, and once more toward the Norns, before he began.

"These events took place perhaps… three or four years ago, now. In the months leading up to Thor's proposed coronation, Thor remained impetuous, quick to anger, shortsighted, and terribly easy to manipulate, but it seemed that no one could see it but me. Or, if any could see it, I must assume that they feared Thor's wrath to the point that they would not speak out. My own attempts to speak with the All-Father were met with condescension or contempt. My supposed envy was unbecoming, you see. The old man had ruled for millennia and was eager to hand the burden off to someone else, no matter how unready his replacement might have been.

"I grew more uneasy with the state of affairs, until I was nearly frantic. And yes," he added tiredly, "increasingly resentful of the way my opinions were passed over. If Odin was so eager to step down from the throne, might he at least consider handing rule to someone who was capable of thinking before he acted?"

"So you did want the throne," put in Natasha.

"Temporarily, or at least that is what I told myself at the time," said Loki. "I did not want the burden of the throne; I preferred the freedom to study and travel the realms, in ways which no king is ever permitted to do outside of warfare. No, what I wanted more was the public acknowledgement that I had anything of value to contribute to this kingdom. Had I not also been trained to rule? Might not my skills be of use as a diplomat, an envoy, or as counsel to the throne? But there was no such acknowledgement, and that angered me. Thor might be the one chosen to wield Gungnir, but I was not even recognized as having the potential to serve as his advisor. Thor received accolades, and I received nothing comparable. Thor was named heir, and I was not even named heir-presumptive." He paused to rub at his forehead. "So yes, I was angry. And yet I loved my brother and feared for him, and for Asgard. That anger and that worry, as I said, combined until I was nearly quivering with anxiety. Finally, it seemed to me that the only way to make the All-Father see that my brother was _simply not ready_ was to stage a demonstration."

Loki licked his lips nervously, looking at the table rather than anyone else in the room. "I needed an audience to witness Thor's poor behavior for themselves, and I needed to make certain that the coronation itself did not take place. I needed a diversion that would force a reaction from my brother, but ultimately be something that led nowhere, something he would not be able to escalate and make worse." He huffed a laugh to himself, then, and took another swallow from his cup. "I ought to have remembered, after so many centuries, that my brother can _always_ make things worse."

Thor, for his part, looked torn between amusement at that last comment, sorrow at the memories, and anger at whatever it was Loki had done.

Odin was not so conflicted. "Two guards died as a result of your actions, Loki."

Loki bared his teeth in response. "It was the _vault_ , they weren't supposed to be inside it in the first place! Those doors are _never_ opened, that was rather the _point_. Otherwise it wouldn't _be_ a vault; it would be a _museum_. And I should expect that on the day of Thor's _coronation,_ like every other day when the palace is open to the public, the doors would have _remained_ shut for security purposes. The Frost Giants would have gotten _into_ the vault and been unable to _leave_ it, and that was assuming the Destroyer by some miracle was unable to fulfill its purpose and protect the artifacts. No one was supposed to die at all!"

"No one except the Frost Giants you deceived!"

"Oh, please," sneered Loki, "you'd spent our entire lives letting us think of them as little more than beasts, entertaining us with tales of how easy they were to conquer because of their greed. You never stopped anyone from regaling us with the knowledge of how disgusting and subhuman they were, barely worthy to be counted among the races of the Nine Realms. The loss of a lowly Frost Giant was, based on all we had been taught, no great loss at all."

"Oh, so you guys are racists," said Tony without thinking. Bruce gave him a look that clearly said he thought Tony was nuts, and Natasha wasn't far behind him. Okay, probably not the most diplomatic thing to say, just off the cuff like that.

"What does this term mean?" asked Thor.

Bruce coughed uncomfortably, when no one else answered. "Uh, what we call racism is the concept that one group of people is inherently superior to another, based on their ancestry; or more to the point, that the other group of people is inherently inferior. Racist thinking is used to justify all kinds of unfair behaviors, anywhere from making that group of people the punchline to all your jokes, to excusing rape or murder because it doesn't really count if you do it to them. Assuming that they are untrustworthy or prone to violence, being reluctant to hire them for work, beliefs about the terrible ways they treat their spouses or children. Blaming that group of people when bad things happen to the community as a whole. Things like that."

He grimaced, his hands fidgeting on the table. "I remember when I was a kid, there was this one boy in my neighborhood whose mom let him have both black and white kids as friends, but she would always make the black kids wash their feet before they were allowed into the house. And she never shared food with them. The white kids could sit and have a snack on the porch together after school, but the black kids had to bring their own or they couldn't have any. And my friend's mom, you know, she thought that was perfectly okay, just based on a pigment difference and a little bit of a cultural difference."

"From what you're saying," Steve picked up the thread, "you were taught that your people are superior and these… what did you call them, Frost Giants?... that these Frost Giants are inferior, like Bruce said. You would just take it as a given that they're not as smart, not as brave, maybe; not as clean, even. You believe that they don't deserve to live just as much as anybody else. That killing them doesn't count. Like they don't have families of their own, people who care about them, people who would worry if they went missing or be heartbroken if they died."

Loki and Thor were both silent for a long moment. Finally, Loki said quietly, "Yes. That is what we were taught. I have since learned otherwise, but those were our initial beliefs, both Thor's and mine."

"I never _once_ instructed you in these ideas," began Odin, but Bruce actually cut him off.

"Racism is complicated," he said. "And the messages don't have to be overt to be absorbed; it's as much how you behave as it is what you say, that a kid will pick up on and internalize." He shrugged. "We only have the one species on Earth, and we still struggle with racism toward one another, in nearly every culture. It sounds like the Frost Giants are an entirely different species, from a different world, am I correct?"

"A conquered species," confirmed Loki, "defeated in a war fought while I was an infant." He had a strange look on his face, sort of _I-know-something-you-don't-know,_ that had Tony thinking the racism thing was going to come back and bite them on the ass later.

"Loki's crimes against the Jotnar are grave," said the Norns, and Loki looked down at the table, hunched in on himself like a little kid. "However, his beliefs are the result of a far greater crime, committed by his father. The means he chose to prevent Thor's coronation was only possible because of what Odin had done, centuries before."

"The Jotnar had invaded Midgard," said Odin, stern but perplexed. "They needed to be stopped, and the protection of the Nine Realms is the sacred responsibility of the king of Asgard."

"That much is correct, Bor's son," said the Norns. "But what you took from their defeated king was not a weapon, but the heart of their Realm."

Odin's eye grew wide, and his nostrils flared. Out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw Loki bring a hand to his mouth, and swallow heavily.

"You did not merely confine the warriors of Jotunheim to their world," the Norns continued, "you condemned their entire species to a slow death. Their world dies, and all life there dies with it. Their culture has declined as a consequence of the fading of their realm. The stories that depict them as grasping, violent savages are all the more believable, now that they are starving and forced to claw for every scrap of sustenance. They have not the energy to expend on preserving their culture, else your sons would have known of their music, their architecture, the intricacies of their customs. The quality of their jewelry, the taste of their delicacies. Perhaps if the Jotnar were merely defeated in a long-ago war, and not continuing to suffer even today, your sons would have had an easier time accepting them as equals alongside the Vanir and Ljosalfar."

"I…" Tony thought the guy was going to keel over, and from the looks on Thor and Loki's faces, they had never seen Odin so shaken. "I humble myself before you, illustrious ladies. I did not know."

"Because you did not ask," said She, stepping away from her spot off to one side of the long table. "You sought no lore, consulted no records of the Casket and its properties. You were not so reckless as Thor, nor so bloodthirsty, but you still did not seek to understand the consequences of your actions. Neither did you seek to take responsibility for the people who had come under your rule, once Laufey had fallen. The Jotnar ought to have become your subjects. Instead you turned your back on the people you conquered and forgot about them." The Norns' vessel stood over Odin now, looking down Her nose (way, way down) at him. "You told your sons as children that Asgard was sworn to protect the Nine Realms, and yet you also told them that after the war against Jotunheim, Asgard withdrew itself from the affairs of men. How can you protect those with whom you never speak? How can you know of their troubles if you never bestir yourself from the confines of your fortress walls?"

She turned away, the glass of her body ringing and chiming as she moved down the table. "One realm dying, thanks to your neglect. Another almost entirely ignorant of its place among the Nine, and of its importance to the survival of Yggdrasil. The people of Midgard are woefully unprepared, looked down upon as a backward and ignorant species almost as much as the Jotnar themselves are." She turned just enough to look over Her shoulder at Odin, and added scornfully, "And you fear the prophecies spoken about _Loki_. Yggdrasil is in far greater danger as a result of your actions than it has ever been from his."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki freaks out a little (but it's sort of a false alarm), and then proceeds to get drunk.

Loki began to laugh, with a bit of hysteria to the sound. "Prophecies? There are _prophecies_ , now?" His laughter grew higher, wild. "Oh—oh, how delicious. Is that why you took me, Odin? Was that your secret purpose? What horrible… manner of _thing_ am I destined to become?"

"Loki. Loki, stop this. Brother…" Thor wrapped an arm around Loki's shoulders and squeezed, but Loki only passed one hand across his eyes, still shaking. He continued to laugh (or maybe it wasn't laughter, thought Tony), silently now, as Odin spoke.

"We do not know that the verses are even true," he said, but Loki only leapt to his feet and leaned out over the table, all traces of humor gone instantly.

"No, you would have had _contingency plans_ in place if you were certain, wouldn't you?" he snarled. "Or perhaps that is why you stole me in the first place—an attempt to stop any of them from coming to pass!"

"Loki—" "That is not—"

"Do not _lie_ to me—"

" _Enough._ " The big glass statue spoke a single word, and it wasn't any louder than any other time She had said anything, but the word seemed to reverberate around the entire room and out into the surrounding _countryside_. Tony's eyes were watering and it felt like he had a sinus headache from a sudden change in air pressure. Looking down the table, Steve was shaking his head like he'd just been clobbered a good one, and Bruce was exhaling, a long, slow, calming breath as his hands clenched together on the table. Barton was pressing the heel of his hand to one eye socket, blinking rapidly, but Natasha had her stoic face on, which Tony was finally beginning to learn how to read after a year of working with her.

Thor and Odin both sat back in their seats, glancing between Loki and Her, but Loki didn't move. He still leaned out over the table, his teeth bared, _quivering_ with hate or rage or pain or who the hell knew what, and even in his prison-wear pajamas he was still making Tony think of a panther, ready to leap the distance and tear out somebody's throat.

"We are here to lend authority to the guardian's words, as he reveals for the first time his true efforts to protect the Nine Realms," said the vessel. "We regret revealing that any such prophecies ever existed. They are irrelevant in any case."

"So you will hide the truth from me as well," said Loki, his voice a ragged rasp; despite how insane he _sounded_ , he straightened to gaze at her evenly with all the dignity of a pissed-off royal. "Illustrious ladies."

She paused, and Tony started to wonder if maybe the Norns were trying to decide whether or not to do some of that obliterating that Loki had claimed they were capable of.

"No," She said finally. "We will not hide what you wish to know. Though we could, if we so chose, and your insolence would not move us."

Loki sat slowly, his lips thinned. The vessel nodded at Odin.

"While you were yet a child," he said, "a woman came to my court, claiming to be a volva, declaring that she had had a vision of Asgard's future. She presented to us a roll of linen, brittle with age, embroidered with words and images that suggested a prince of Asgard, 'with two fathers', would bring Ragnarök."

"The downfall of the realms," put in Bruce, looking around at all the humans in the room. "Basically Armageddon, but with more planets involved."

"The wording was unclear," continued Odin, "as to whether this person would cause the final war deliberately through malice, or through ill luck or circumstance, or completely accidentally by simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We sent out inquiries, and discovered the woman had been a volva when she was younger, but had broken her vows and cast aside her teachings long before. In her old age she'd gained a reputation in her village for stirring trouble: spreading rumors, attempting to start quarrels between strangers and claiming they were cursed. We—your mother, the council of elders, and I—decided the safest course was to set the verses aside, and merely watch to see if any other evidence arose to support them. Nothing did, for centuries."

"And then I came to Midgard," said Loki.

"No. Then you went to Jotunheim, with your brother, and seemed to go mad."

"You mean he wasn't always a complete whack-job?" said Barton, and both Nat and the Cap gave him quelling looks, along with a pretty menacing glower from Thor.

The Norns spoke up next. "Rest your heart, guardian: Odin knew nothing of any prophecies when he adopted you as an infant. You were not taken with the intent to lock you away for safekeeping." Loki… actually twitched at that, Tony noticed. Huh. "And be further at peace: the majority of those verses were actually memories from another lifetime, from another _cycle_."

"A question, great ladies," said Thor. "What do you mean by 'memories'?"

"For that matter, what do you mean by 'cycle'?" asked Tony. The big glass statue tipped Her head thoughtfully.

"Your mortal skalds put it well, when they sang, _Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end_ ," said She. "Ragnarök comes. The universe ends, but existence does not. Nothing is ever truly lost. Souls are not annihilated, but reborn. Yggdrasil sprouts anew. Existence is a palimpsest—"

"A what, now?" interrupted Barton.

"Oh. I know this one." Steve piped up, a look of surprise on his face. "In the Middle Ages, parchment was hard to come by sometimes, so the monks would take a page, scrape the ink off of it, and reuse it. Write over it. But you could usually still see traces of the writing that had been there before." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking at them sheepishly. "Art appreciation class."

"Precisely, son of Sarah," said the Norns, making Steve blink. "Ragnarök scrapes the parchment clean, and we and others like us are free to write upon it once more. Or if you prefer the image of us as weavers, then Ragnarök is when we remove the cloth from our loom and begin again. On occasion, however, a memory, an impression, from the previous cycle will remain."

"And that is all these prophecies were?" asked Odin warily.

"For the most part," said the Norns, which, yeah, not actually reassuring at all. She stepped closer to the balcony, and light shone through Her body, casting beams of gold across Loki's face. "In that age, you were Loptr, the blood-brother of Wotan, his companion on many journeys. You were as fickle as flame, then; by turns you could be calm as coals on the hearth, fierce as the forge-flame, or wicked as wildfire. But Wotan broke his vows never to harm Loptr, murdered his innocent sons, and by their blood bound Loptr to an eternity of suffering. Millennia passed in which all Loptr knew was physical torment and emotional anguish; he knew only pain and grief and despair, until his mind broke apart and all that was left was rage. Loptr brought about the end, his fire a conflagration that destroyed all until Yggdrasil fell. But it can be argued that he never would have done so, fickle though he was, if Wotan had not betrayed and driven him to madness first."

"How is this to bring me peace?" asked Loki. His voice was small. Horrified, and that was another thing that Tony hadn't thought Loki was capable of.

"You are not Loptr," She said simply. "You have not lived his life. He was blood-brother to Wotan, and they adventured together, encouraging one another and each trying to outdo the other in acts of trickery and deceit, until Wotan betrayed and destroyed him. In this life, you are his son, and rather than competing with him, you have learned what it is to be deceived, while you are yet young enough to choose another path." And didn't that little hint just raise a few questions for Tony. "Your brother is Thor, and while you, child, are yet as changeable as the wind, the two of you balance one another, and rein one another in. Moreover, one of Thor's virtues is his stalwart loyalty. He will never betray you; on that you may take our word if you cannot accept his." Loki looked down at his hands, clasped on the table in front of him. "Finally," She said, "Loptr's mother was Laufey and his father Farbauti, 'Cruel Striker' of the Jotnar. In this cycle, Laufey sired you, but the one you have always called mother is Frigga."

He shut his eyes for a second, as Thor's hand came up to squeeze the back of his neck. The vessel turned away from the balcony and observed the pair of them for a second.

"Be at peace, guardian."

Loki said nothing, but the bottle of liquor he'd poured for himself vanished from the sideboard and reappeared next to him. Still without speaking, he poured a measure into his cup and tossed it back, again with the full-body shudder.

"How much of that are you planning to drink?" asked Tony.

"There is a fine line with this particular beverage," replied Loki calmly, "between being too drunk to speak, and just drunk enough not to care what one says. I intend to flirt with that boundary for as long as possible, and eventually cross it."

"Brother," began Thor, but Loki waved him off.

"We are but echoes," he said, "our souls repeating the same lives again and again, with only the tiniest of variations from one cycle to the next. It would seem that I was the bringer of Ragnarök before, brother; do you think me incapable of realizing that the final battle will _always_ be tied to me in some fashion? All that the Nine Realms know of the Mad Titan anymore are fragments of legend, and yet of all the beings alive in Yggdrasil, _I_ have had the misfortune to meet him personally." He chuckled, poured himself another measure. "More than that, I know what he wants, and it is _worse_ than the End of All Things. Were I to bring Ragnarök again, it would be a _mercy killing_ compared to what he will do." Tony wondered how much of Loki's shudder that time really had to do with the taste of his drink.

"Which is what?" pressed Natasha, but Loki just smiled beatifically. There was the faintest flush across his nose and cheeks now, and he was leaning back on his cushion and partly against Thor's shoulder, as relaxed as a cat in a window.

"Can't tell you," he said sunnily, "the Norns said so. I have to reveal to you all the details of my downfall first. But do not worry, Agent Romanov, I am certain you will be entertained by them."

Tony would really, really appreciate it if Loki would stop acting like a reflection of Tony, all the way down to the whole _cope-with-a-shitty-life-by-getting-drunk-and-pretending-it's-roses_ thing.

"So," the man said cheerfully, "where were we before I learned that the whole point of my existence is to bring about the end of everything else's… existences?"

"A distraction," said Natasha. "Something to do with killing a couple of Jotnar and a couple of guards."

"Ah yes," said Loki. "Very good. _Thank_ you, lady."

She glowered. He just smiled at her.

"On the day of Thor's coronation, in the middle of his ceremony, at the very _moment_ he was about to be named king, two or three Frost Giants broke into Asgard's vault, where we keep all the most powerful treasures. They killed a couple of guards, as you have already heard, and attempted to take back the Casket of Ancient Winters." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Which, upon further contemplation, I cannot fault them for in the slightest. If I were pretending to speak in my defense, I would say that I only promised them the _opportunity_ to regain the Casket, and that it was likely they would face dangers and be unable to succeed. It's no surprise that they refused to heed my warning, the Casket being their world's holiest artifact and best chance to save their people from a certain and protracted doom."

Loki shook himself out of thought and continued. "In fact, they did face danger. As I planned. You see, we've a guardian—no, sorry, _Odin_ has a guardian—in the vault, a mechanical behemoth known fondly as the Destroyer. And, to no one's surprise except perhaps the Frost Giants', it appeared as soon as they touched the Casket, sounding the alarm and halting the coronation ceremony; and it opened its great maw, exactly as it was supposed to do, and it destroyed them. Hurrah, the kingdom is safe once more, the Casket remains safely on its pedestal, and oh, coincidentally, Thor is not king."

He gave a sigh, maybe only slightly exaggerated for theatrics. "That ought to have been the end of it. The plan to that point had gone off without a hitch, barring the deaths of the guards. The three of us went marching down to the vault to inspect the damage, and Thor, pouting like a child at having his special party interrupted, was building up to a lovely state of vexation, in front of the only witness who mattered, just as I had hoped. He paced about like a penned ox, growling that the Jotnar ought to be taught a _lesson_ , that they needed to _pay_ for offending him. Couched in terms of defending Asgard, of course. Odin reminded him that this was not the action of all Jotunheim, but merely of a few, and that they _had_ paid. As far as he was concerned, the matter was closed. But Thor was not to be dissuaded, and said that 'as king of Asgard'—" He sat up, clenching a fist, and pounded it on the table, his voice imitating Big Thunder pretty convincingly.

"—but then Odin interrupted him, reminding him forcefully that he was _not_ king." Loki leaned back again, thudding his shoulder into Thor's. "And I thought _that_ would be enough, but no. Odin _still_ said nothing about delaying, still seemed not to notice the disaster in the making that was Thor's potential kingship. Something more needed to be done. Odin needed irrefutable proof of Thor's unsuitability for the throne."

"So you did put the idea into my head," growled Thor.

Loki's head tilted back to rest on Thor's shoulder, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. "As I have mentioned before, the ease with which you could be manipulated was nothing short of terrifying," he replied. He slewed around to look at the side of Thor's face. "All I did was say that I thought you were right. I soothed you after that ridiculous tantrum in the dining hall, agreed with your foolish assertions, and _then_ I reminded you that you could do nothing without defying Father… and of course you decided that the only thing to do then was _exactly that_. I had expected you to press your demand to Odin, but no, you were all for running off immediately. You made your own choices, brother."

"Okay, so how did he defy Odin?" asked Steve.

"He decided to violate a thousand-year-old treaty and journey to Jotunheim to, as he put it, _demand answers_ of their king." Loki rolled his eyes. "As if a prince could speak to a king of any realm in that manner, as if he would have any right to make such demands of anyone when not on his own soil, or speaking to his own subjects. As if he weren't clutching Mjolnir with a _gleam_ in his eye as he spoke of his plan."

"And what was _your_ plan?" pressed Natasha.

"To stop him before he went too far," Loki shrugged. "He persuaded his usual crowd of sycophants to accompany him despite their initial misgivings; whether they are all truly that stupid or simply become spineless at the prospect of facing Thor's temper, I do not know. But persuade them he did, and as we headed to the stables I stopped and spoke to one of the palace guard, ordered him to hurry to Odin to inform him of Thor's plan. When we made it all the way to the Bifrost without being stopped, I stepped forward, knowing that Heimdall does not trust me any farther than the end of his nose, _knowing_ that if I asked on Thor's behalf he would refuse on principle. Except that he didn't refuse. He gave me one of his usual heavy glares, the cosmic voyeur perpetually irritated with me because I do not actually appreciate being constantly spied upon and have learned to cloak myself—"

"Okay, pause, sweetcheeks. What the hell are you talking about?"

Loki took a breath. "As Thor has mastery over thunder and lightning, as I can walk the branches of Yggdrasil, Heimdall—that is the name of Odin's _esteemed_ gatekeeper—can see and hear everything that goes on throughout the Nine Realms. Wheresoever he turns his focus, he can watch, and overhear, and tattle to the All-Father about what he learns. He is personally and deeply offended that I have the capacity to hide myself from his constant surveillance. It galls him to think that there might be anyone in this universe who might not _want_ to be continually stared at. _Clearly,_ that I can hide myself must mean that whatever I am doing out of his sight is of sinister intent."

"You mean, everything-everything?" asked Tony. Because… ew.

"Indeed, he is listening to us even now," said Loki; "as I am out of my cell and not sufficiently dead to please him, he must pay attention to me while he can. Plus we have spoken his name, so he must eavesdrop on our conversation to see if perhaps we are doing something worth reporting back to the All-Father later." Loki leaned forward and poured from the bottle in front of him, into his cup yet again. This time Tony was able to catch a glimpse of it, some sort of purple liqueur that smelled faintly of spoiled flowers. "A toast to you, good Heimdall!" he cried, raising the cup high. "May you be ever vigilant, and with every passing day, may you take your mighty sword, Hofudh, and _shove_ it farther up your—"

Thor clapped one hand over Loki's mouth and the other to the back of his head.

"A bit off-topic, brother," he said mildly, as Loki flailed and glared at him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki discusses Jotunheim.

Tony managed to keep himself from laughing out loud, but only just, as Loki yanked himself free of Thor's grip. He shot a quick look around the table, and saw Hawkeye leaning forward with a gleam in his eye and the beginnings of a wicked grin.

"So you're a talkative drunk, is what you're saying?" Tony asked.

"Thor, you are a foul-breathed lummox who fornicates with trolls," began Loki, but Thor merely smiled, his expression absolutely _sappy_ with fondness.

"I have missed you too, brother," he said.

"Clearly you are also too thick-headed to grasp that you are being insulted, not to mention incapable of hanging onto an original thought unless both your hands are free."

"Oh, was that meant to be an insult? It did not even rhyme," he replied, his smile widening as Loki's glare deepened. "Either you are out of practice and off your usual form, or else you do not truly mean what you are saying." He nudged Loki's shoulder with his own… and lo and behold, Loki's scowl gradually faded into a wry grin of his own. It actually looked pretty good on him.

"Yeah, you two make a cute couple and everything," said Barton, "but if we have to sit through Story Time with the God of Lies I'd rather we get it over with quick."

"Of course, Agent Barton," Loki said smoothly. He watched with amusement as Barton's expression darkened. "I live to serve."

"Yeah, yeah, that's good to hear, fuck you very much."

"Heimdall, Odin's gatekeeper, ought to have stopped Thor and his little band of warmongers." Loki slipped back into his story as if he were still sober and his little tangent had never occurred. "Travel to Jotunheim was expressly forbidden, but instead of stopping us, Heimdall actually _encouraged_ Thor to go. He was willing to allow Thor to defy his king, because he mistrusted me _that_ much. He said that he also wanted to know how the Jotnar got into the vault, but if that were truly the case perhaps he ought to have asked _anyone other than Thor_ to investigate. Do you know, it never occurred to me to ask before, but tell me, All-Father: does that not make your servant equally culpable in the events that followed?"

The All-Father just glared at Loki and said nothing.

"Ah. I see. Forgive my oversight, _Odin_ , I had forgotten you are pathologically incapable of admitting that other people might be at fault besides me, on any given occasion."

"Loki." Thor squeezed the back of his brother's neck. "You are becoming distracted again."

"Hmm. So I am." He leaned forward and examined the contents of the bottle carefully. "Perhaps I am a bit too close to that boundary I described earlier." Loki sighed, and leaned back against the cushion. "We arrived on the planet, and only then did Hogun speak up and declare that we shouldn't have come. A bit late to exercise prudence, but then as I've mentioned, they have always been followers of Thor's will, and tend to avoid thinking for themselves."

"That is not true, brother."

"You can tell the story your way in any mead-hall you like, and make yourself the flawless hero as always. I, however, am telling it my way."

"And how much of your way is the truth?" asked Natasha.

"The Norns will surely stop me if I begin to tell any important falsehoods," he shrugged. "Perhaps my perceptions are actually correct."

Natasha rolled her eyes.

"In any case," he continued, "the Jotnar were hidden, observing us like sensible savages, no doubt overhearing Thor's pronouncement that they were merely cowards, which he spoke _as we walked into King Laufey's court_. We were outnumbered and surrounded, and I tried to point this out to my brother. He growled at me to _know my place."_ Loki gritted his teeth for a moment before continuing, as Big Thunder's face turned red."Thor made his demands, Laufey pointed them out for the childish posturing they were, and before Thor could grow too angry, told us to go home. Said we were inviting war upon our heads, and had no idea what it would really mean. In an effort to salvage the situation, and once again to clean up one of Thor's messes, I accepted the king's offer to permit us to leave peacefully." He shut his eyes for a second before looking at Thor sideways. "And then what happened, brother mine?"

"One of their warriors instigated—"

Loki cleared his throat, loudly.

Thor sighed gustily. "As we turned to leave, one of the Jotun warriors insulted me, and I grew angry."

"One of the Jotun warriors said, ' _Run along home, little princess'_ ," corrected Loki. "And you promptly killed him."

Tony winced. Yeah, bad move on the part of Lion-O and the Thundercats. Glancing around, none of the other Avengers looked too impressed either. Odin's face was, as usual, implacable and stern.

"As I mentioned, we were outnumbered from the beginning," said Loki, "and they were defending their homes against a handful of invading hotheads, but Thor and his friends—well, except perhaps for Sif, she's generally sensible— _they_ saw the battle as a great game. A bit of fun, to while away an afternoon and cheer themselves up after the disappointment of the botched coronation. Blood stained the snow on both sides, Jotun bodies piling up around us, and Volstagg's arm was badly burned. The Jotnar, it turns out, have the ability to suck all the heat from an object, or from the flesh of their enemies, freezing it instantly." He looked up at them, meeting their gazes one by one. "Have you ever seen fabric, or armor, literally _shatter_ from cold? That is what one of them did to Volstagg. He warned the rest of us, of course."

"Where were you in all this?" asked Steve.

"Fighting," said Loki simply. "I was loyal to my brother, for all his faults. I would not have him killed for any reason, certainly not as a result of his own stupidity. And besides, as I mentioned earlier, we had all been brought up to think that they were _only_ Jotnar. It wasn't as if killing them would _matter_. Of _course_ they were bloodthirsty savages. We would be doing the realms a _favor_ by getting rid of a few of them."

Bruce was the one who grimaced now, running a hand through his hair, looking as uncomfortable as Tony felt. Racists. Nasty, nasty racist bigots. That was actually probably important intel to have on Aesir culture, unless maybe the racism was restricted to the young and the reckless. Thor seemed to have grown out of it, anyway—he certainly looked embarrassed enough about it now, at least—and Loki kept making noises like he had, too.

"I generally fight better with long-range weapons. Throwing knives, that sort of thing. I don't tend to close with my opponents. But one of them closed with me, and attempted the freezing touch on my arm as well. My armor and sleeve were instantly coated in hoarfrost, and then crumbled away in little pieces, and he clutched my bare flesh…" Loki reached forward and picked up his cup, refilling it and avoiding eye contact with the rest of them. To Tony's surprise, his hand shook as he picked up the cup, and his voice rasped as he said, "Only my arm did not burn. In fact, I felt no pain whatsoever." He paused again, swallowed heavily. "Instead, my arm turned blue… the same color skin as the Jotnar."

He tossed back the entire contents of the cup and slammed it down on the table, still shuddering from head to toe.

 _Oh_ , thought Tony. Oh, shit.

"I think we were both equally shocked, that warrior and I, though I was surely the more horrified of the pair of us. I used his moment of distraction to stab him in the throat. I looked around quickly, but none of the others had noticed what happened." Loki stared at nothing for a second, then seemed to remember himself, blinking rapidly and giving a little shake of his head. "The battle continued. Fandral took a grievous wound. I shouted at Thor that we needed to _go,_ and all he did was keep fighting and call back, 'Then go!' as if the idea of him staying behind to slake his bloodlust against a hundred Jotnar was inconsequential. He was willing in that moment to abandon his friends, to abandon _me,_ to fight or fall on our own, so caught up was he in the rage of battle."

Loki paused again, so Steve leaned forward in his seat. "Thor, is this true?"

The big guy only nodded, eyes downcast. "It is." He turned to face his brother. "Although I did not know of the details surrounding Loki and his opponent."

"The rest of us fled back toward the Bifrost site," said Loki, ignoring his brother's obvious invitation to talk about it. "They summoned some sort of enormous guard beast, and that finally got Thor's attention, I suspect more because it represented a better _challenge to his skills_ than because it was pursuing his wounded friends. He killed it, and rejoined our group, but we had been backed into a corner, and Jotun reinforcements had arrived. Thor _still_ did not see the wisdom in either surrender or flight… and then the Bifrost activated, and Odin arrived upon his mighty steed." Loki shook his head. "Thor's first words to him were an invitation to 'finish them together,' but it seemed that Odin had finally opened his eyes to the flaws in Thor's character. He silenced his son, exchanged a few words with their king, Laufey, and brought us home."

"What kind of words?" asked the captain.

"Trying to excuse Thor's behavior," said Loki, then he stopped and shook his head. Odin glanced up in surprise, clearly having expected Loki to keep bashing everyone he could as he recounted the events. "Trying to convince Laufey to ignore Thor's behavior, so that the cease-fire between our two realms would hold. Laufey said no. That Thor would get what he came for.

"And then, as I said, we were brought back to Asgard. Fa—Odin was furious. Sent the others away to get Volstagg and Fandral to the healers, leaving the two of us with more privacy while he berated Thor. Who berated him right back, still caught up in the excitement of battle. Finally, _finally_ Odin was seeing that my brother was unsuited for the throne, or at least, not ready yet and would possibly not become ready for some time. And, again, that ought to have been the end of it." Loki shook his head. "Going to Jotunheim was never part of my plan. Rekindling war, effectively committing treason… If we had been stopped before we ever got there—if the guard had reached the All-Father sooner, if Heimdall hadn't been in such a petty mood that he decided to allow such folly—things would never have escalated so far. Odin might perhaps have given Thor another lecture, or perhaps revoked a few privileges as he has done in the past."

"A lecture? For _killing_ people?" Hawkeye was looking at Loki like he was an idiot, and Tony had to admit he had a point. This was a seriously fucked-up bunch of people, or else Loki was just really fucked up for thinking that would be all that would happen.

"If we hadn't _made it_ to Jotunheim, Thor probably wouldn't have killed anybody, so _yes_ ," said Loki, giving Barton a _don't-be-a-moron_ look in return. "A lecture, for throwing a tantrum not befitting a man of his station, privileges revoked for defying the express commands of his king and for generally not thinking about anything other than his own selfish wants. A significant delay to the date of his eventual coronation, until he was ready. Perhaps if he were feeling exceptionally generous, passing the honor to me, even if temporarily—but that was a naïve thought which could never come to pass, though I didn't realize it at the time."

The pitcher of mead appeared out of thin air on the table in front of Loki, next to the first bottle of liquor, and he refilled his cup as he went on. "But, as it turned out, Thor had finally gone too far, or perhaps Odin was in a panic because _I_ had gone to Jotunheim. I will not pretend to understand his motives. But he stripped my brother of his powers and rendered him as weak as a mortal, and then flung him away to Midgard. I distinctly recall trying to step in, to calm both of them down, before it happened. Odin snarled at me like an angry beast. Ironic, that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Natasha.

"Oh, never fear, we're coming to that." He looked over at the Norns' vessel again, sipping at his mead with his eyebrows raised. "You've been suspiciously quiet, ladies. Anything you wish to add? Any particular harrowing, humiliating detail you wish for me to pursue further?"

"Loki," Thor leaned in close, a worried look on his face, "I know you've no desire to tell this story, but please, do not let your displeasure lead you to anger them."

"And why not?" said Loki blithely. "They call me guardian and presumably wish to _keep_ me. They have informed me I am meant to be the Destroyer of Worlds. What could they possibly do to me for my insolence?"

"They could kill you!"

Loki shook his head sadly. "Brother, you keep forgetting, I am already supposed to be dead, twice over. At this point, perhaps the worst thing they could do to me is continue to keep me alive."

Thor looked lost for words for a moment, before he finally said, "That is not the worst thing for me."

The vessel spoke up before Loki could respond to that. "You are telling your tale as we have wished it. We have no desire for you to suffer, but it is necessary for these others to know what you have done. You deserve to have your bravery made known, guardian."

"Supposing I did not want to be a guardian, whatever that is supposed to mean."

The big glass statue almost seemed to sigh at that. Which was weird, but also maybe a measure of just how irritating Loki could be. Exasperating the beings who could unmake the entire world if they were to simply show up in person? That was some epic-level annoyance skill, right there.

"We are the Weavers of Fate. With every Ragnarök, the fabric of creation is undone, though the threads remain, and we are given the opportunity to weave it anew," She said. "The thread that represents each person's life contains its own variations in color, its own twist and thickness, coarseness or softness. And each thread alters those around it and is altered in turn, changing the nature of the fabric. We do not control the entirety of creation, as many in the Nine Realms assume. We weave lives together, attempting to create an image which perfectly depicts the meaning of all existence. We have yet to succeed; Ragnarök unravels the weave and allows us to try again. With each attempt, we make variations, place different threads side-by-side, and see if the changes improve the whole."

"What does this have to do with me?" asked Loki.

"It is true that you have been the harbinger of Ragnarök, in past cycles—previous attempts," said the Norns. "But in this cycle, we have made changes, which we have already described, that affect your thread. You are correct in believing that you are still placed near to the End of All Things in our tapestry, but whether or not you will be its cause this time is not yet known. You may even, by your own choices, distance yourself from it entirely. Our tapestry may not be perfect, despite the changes we have wrought. Ragnarök may yet come; however, should you embrace the task we have set before you, guardian, it will not come at your hands, and you will prevent, as you have already hinted, something worse."

"It would be great if you could skip ahead a second and just tell us what you're hinting at," said Tony.

"The Titan," said Loki, at the same time as the vessel said, "Annihilation."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who are really detail-oriented, I added about five words to this chapter that are not in the FFnet version of the story. They don't change much. It just occurred to me that saying "my arm turned blue" wouldn't mean anything to the humans when they don't know that Jotuns have blue skin.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki recalls his confrontation with Odin.

All around the table, people were either gaping or looking skeptical—mostly skeptical, although Odin was nodding, which made Tony very, very uncomfortable in the pit of his stomach.

"Ragnarök is the End of All Things," said She; "the civilizations of the Nine Realms destroy themselves, all life succumbs to death, and eventually even their planets die. Yggdrasil is devoid of fruit; her leaves fall; her branches wither, down to the roots." Tony took a moment to absorb the sheer scale they were talking about here, assuming that map had been accurate. "And then we gather up what remains and begin it all again. Your mortal science speculates upon that moment in which all is reborn."

"The Big Bang," said Bruce.

"Indeed," said the Norns. "However, remember what the guardian told you of Thanos."

"He's insane and he can't die?" put in Hawkeye. She turned and gestured for Loki to continue.

"He is mad, he cannot die by any known means, and he very much wishes to do so," said Loki. "He sees Death as a lover whom he must entice, and so he threatens every living thing. Perhaps from a practical standpoint, he might believe that if he ends all life, he will be caught up in the massive current of living souls flowing toward the realms of the dead, which would allow him to cross over at last. But…" He trailed off for a second, his lips pressed together and his gaze faraway. "I trust that the Norns have made clear to you that Ragnarök has a _pattern_ … a structure which it follows. The strategy that the Mad Titan wishes to employ would not only bring about the End of All Things, it would damage that structure."

"What strategy is this?" asked Odin.

Loki looked directly at the other man. "The Infinity Gauntlet," he said, and Odin's sharp intake of breath could be heard by everyone in the room.

Okay, that couldn't be good.

Loki looked at the rest of them, voice and face as sober as Tony had ever seen it. "The Titan is already fantastically powerful, compared to what you are accustomed to," he said. "He has destroyed entire planets before, and still his lover, Death, denies him. So he seeks greater power still. If he cannot be swept across the boundary between the realms of the living and the dead, then he will attempt to _obliterate_ that boundary, and force himself into the… afterlife, as you called it. If he becomes capable of that, he will have obtained the power to quite literally rewrite the rules of how space and time _function_. There would be no renewal. Whereas Ragnarök threatens all living beings with death, and then the dead are eventually reborn, the Titan's strategy would destroy even the dead." He blinked once, slowly. "To belabor a metaphor, Ragnarök pulls the threads out of the tapestry and the Norns reuse them to make a new one. What the Titan hopes to achieve would cause there to _be_ no thread for the Three Sisters to work with."

"That is correct, guardian," said the Norns, and Thor swallowed heavily, his face pale. "Thanos, in his madness, does not understand that death is merely a changed state of existence; he thinks of it as _unmaking_. His desire to unmake himself, therefore, threatens all Yggdrasil. Should one realm fall, the rest will topple as well. And should Yggdrasil fall, rather than fading away naturally, the energies released will cause instability in all the other World Trees of the universe. Eventually all existence would be unmade."

Tony raised his eyebrows, blinking rapidly. Because, well… shit.

"Okay, look." Clint was leaning back in his seat, pinching at the bridge of his nose. "All this is some heavy cosmic stuff, I get it. Thanos, bad news. But how the hell is it relevant to us? I mean, we stopped an alien invasion, but there's nothing on earth that would be able to… rewrite the rules, or whatever this asshole said. We just don't have that kind of power. And where does Loki factor in, apart from meeting the guy and deciding to work for him?"

"I did no such thing," said Loki flatly. "As much as you may despise me, Agent Barton, even I am not so hideous a monster as to wish for the destruction of my own home. Of the souls of the beloved dead."

"Yeah, having a hard time believing that," said Steve.

"Quite frankly, mortal, I do not care in the slightest what you believe. Were it not for the Three Sisters, I would still be in my cell, hidden away so that the All-Father would not have to think too much about my continued existence, nor trouble to ask himself the sorts of questions that require one to think before one answers them. Were it not for the Three Sisters, you would never have been brought to Asgard, for he sees you as an inferior species and likely can barely stomach being in the same room with you." Loki ignored Barton's muttered "and you don't?" and finished, "Were it not for the Three Sisters, I would not be forced to tell this story and you would not be forced to listen to it, so if there is anything you dislike about your present situation, I recommend you take it up with them. Much good may it do you."

He looked around the room with a challenging spark in his eye, but no one else spoke up.

"Now then. At the very beginning of this tawdry tale I said that I had made very poor choices with very good intentions, and that each consequence and development of those choices narrowed my perceived options a little further each time." He turned his palm up, not quite shrugging. "Here were the first such developments: my arm, strangely unharmed by the jotun's attack, and Thor, banished. We had no way of knowing at the time whether that was a temporary arrangement, or if the All-Father had, in fact, actually disowned his son. He'd cast out Mjolnir as well, so he presumably did not wish to leave my brother completely defenseless on a primitive realm, but it was still a shock. My world had become unsettled in the span of only a few minutes."

Loki worked his jaw back and forth thoughtfully, staring at nothing. "To whom could I speak, about either event? To whom might I turn for solace or reassurance, or even a chance to clear my head? Not Odin, surely. His temper might be slower to ignite than Thor's, but did not subside for days at a time once roused. Not Mother; dear though she has always been to my heart, she has ever served as the apologist to Odin's actions, and frankly I feared what she might have to say about my strange malady. Thor was gone. Thor's friends? No, for when we gathered after their wounds were treated, all they could talk about was how they might persuade me to convince Odin to lift the banishment." His expression darkened. "They were little better than a bunch of squabbling toddlers, pouting that their little _playmate_ could no longer join them to frolic and chase seagulls. As if the All-Father would simply change his mind and bring Thor home, after he had reignited a _war_. As if he would ever do such a thing on _my_ say-so."

Loki lifted his cup and took a swallow of mead, a sneer on his lips. "They were grateful the All-Father had come to our rescue but wondered how he had even known to come. And when I revealed that I had made arrangements, telling the palace guard as a contingency, well. One would have expected a bit of gratitude, since without my planning we would all have died, but no—apparently that qualified as some sort of sneaking trickery, a betrayal of the _brave and mighty Thor_. When I attempted to explain why he had been banished, how he had endangered all our lives for the sake of his wounded pride, Sif gave me a look of disgust. Eventually I left to see to my arm, but behind me I heard her say that I had always been jealous of Thor. Clearly my refusing to speak on his behalf had nothing to do with the good of Asgard and everything to do with envy. Thor was the one who nearly led us to our deaths, but I was the one who could not be trusted."

Thor was looking at him sadly, taking in the news of what had happened while he'd been on earth. "I had wondered why you now speak so poorly of them, brother."

Loki shrugged. "They were ever your friends and not mine," he said. "They would only respect my opinions if you acknowledged them first; would only support my ideas until you spoke against them. The instant you disagreed with me, they would withdraw from me and flock to you, showing themselves for the fawning bootlickers they truly are. In retrospect, I do not even know why I was surprised by their behavior." He shook his head, and although there was anger in his voice, Tony could see sadness on his face as he said, "I will never again make the mistake of calling them friends."

His brother sighed and leaned forward, reaching for the bottle of mead in front of Loki. "You said you left them to see to your arm."

Loki nodded. "I had thought of and cast aside countless possibilities; that I was cursed, that my magic had protected me somehow… that it was a trick of the light and I had merely imagined what I saw. Finally I decided that the only way to test what had happened was to expose myself to Jotun magic again and see what transpired, so I went to the vault."

"The Casket of Ancient Winters," guessed Thor.

"Indeed." He glanced up at the rest of them, his gaze landing on Natasha for some reason. "Another poor decision, despite a reasonable motive." Then he glanced across to Odin, and a smile slipped across his features; he reached for his drink, and his eyes flicked to Tony. "Would you like to see what I did next?"

"Depends," Tony shot back, "is it going to get us killed?"

"Won't even scuff your pretty suit of armor," said Loki. He refilled his cup with the purple cough-syrup stuff and tossed it back, shuddered, and smiled a little wider this time. "Not a single hair on your heads will be harmed, and as a bonus you can enjoy a reenactment of the exact moment in which your most despised enemy lost his mind and wept at the feet of the man he had always called father."

And with that, he held up both hands in front of him, one palm up, one palm down, as if he were holding an invisible kitten. When he pulled his hands apart, though, there was suddenly a funky crystal box in front of him on the table, with something inside that glowed brightly. There were graceful curves etched into the glass, and handles recessed into either side. It looked like some kind of fairytale treasure chest.

"You stole it," said Odin.

"An argument could be made that I merely reclaimed it," said Loki, "since after all you stole it first." The air around the chest was turning to fog and frost was starting to condense onto the table. Tony tried to lean forward discreetly and lay a gauntleted finger on the box, maybe get a peek at what was inside, but Loki caught his wrist in a grip of steel. "You are mortal," he said flatly. "And I presume you would like to leave this place alive."

"Is that a threat?" demanded Clint.

"Not even Thor can touch this box without coming to harm," Loki replied, "and while your armor is impressive, I doubt it could protect you from _this_. I suspect that the only way Odin himself was able to bring it away from Jotunheim in the first place was through the generous application of his own seidr." He paused, taking a deep breath. "I, however…"

And he reached out, slowly, with trepidation, and took hold of the treasure chest's handles. There was a faint sound, barely audible, that Tony recognized after a minute as the almost-silent hiss of snow falling on a calm night. Whatever was inside the box glowed brighter, and there was a thrum of energy that made the hairs on Tony's neck stand on end, and the arc reactor in his chest seem to vibrate in resonance.

Loki's hands were getting frostbitten, was the first thing Tony thought; his fingers were turning an almost cartoonish color, like, literally blue with cold. Except that was wrong, because the blue was spreading, up his hands and arms, disappearing under the sleeves of his prison-wear pajamas, to reappear again at his throat and keep working upward. His eyes turned bloodshot, then just bloody… no, Tony realized, that was wrong too, because the irises vanished so that the entire eye was a pure, clear red.

Behind the advancing line of blue, raised lines appeared on Loki's skin and traveled upward too, sweeping and graceful, and Tony realized they were very similar to the arcs inscribed into the panels of the treasure chest. Parallel lines traced the curve of the muscles on his arms, caressed his throat up his chin to touch his lower lip, and delineated a crown on his forehead. Occasionally one of the lines had a sharp bend to it, like the ones at his forearms that took a turn to the outside of his wrist and again at his elbow, but other than that they reminded Tony of racing stripes, following the contours of the other man's musculature. They were… elegant.

Loki looked up at Thor, and the red eyes sort of made his expression hard to read, but if Tony didn't know better, he would have said Loki was nervous. His eyes flicked across Thor's face and away, down to his hands and back up again; the red reflected light back at the rest of the room like a cat's.

"When we were children," he said quietly, "you once vowed to hunt the monsters down. Neither of us realized there was one right under your nose the entire time." His voice had an added growl to it now, making it sound a little deeper, but a person didn't need the Black Widow's skills to hear the tremor in it.

Thor had watched the change intently, and Tony hadn't quite been able to read the expression on his face. But the big guy's voice was warm when he said, "I see no monsters here," and reached up to rest a hand on Loki's cheek.

Loki flinched back, hard, taking one blue hand off the treasure chest. "I could burn you," he warned.

"So be it, then," said Thor, and since his kid brother's face was out of reach, he deliberately took hold of Loki's forearm instead. Loki just stared at him, red eyes bright with more than just reflected light. He looked down at the hand on his arm, and Tony leaned around to see better, but nothing was happening.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"No," said Thor. "My brother's skin is merely skin."

"What about you, Blue Man? What does that feel like when it's happening? The… change, I mean."

The lines on Loki's throat rippled as he swallowed, and his new voice failed him the first time he tried to speak. There was a tear on his cheek as he finally answered, "Like coming home."

The sound of his own voice seemed to jolt him out of the intimacy of the moment. With another sweep of his hands, the box seemed to fold in on itself before vanishing, and the blue began to creep back down off of his face and down his neck. Loki sat with his hands on the table, and his eyes on his hands. He spoke with quiet intensity as he got back to his story.

"The man I had known as a father for my entire life caught me in the act of touching the Casket and ordered me to stop, but it was too late. I had already seen… already _felt_. I asked if I was cursed, and he only said 'no'. I asked what I might be instead, and he only claimed I was his son. I was still… reeling from shock, and horror, and from the events of the day, and his answer was entirely insufficient to calm me. In fact, I saw it as a blatant falsehood, saw both his answers as an attempt to tell me the absolute bare minimum possible rather than giving me what I most needed to hear." He swallowed, his eyes darting back and forth as if trying to scour his memories. "He confirmed the terrible secret he had hidden from me my entire life—that I was not his child by blood. That he had found an infant in a temple, too small… he claims I was left to die but I no longer trust his word on that."

Odin leaned forward as if to speak, but Loki wasn't finished. Tony watched his fingers curl and fidget on the table.

"I asked him… I needed to know, I asked him why he would take me, why he would turn away from the battle, the, the _war_ he had just won, why he would take an infant when he was… _knee-deep_ in Jotun blood… and he evaded my answer, again. What—what _horrible secret_ could he possibly be attempting to avoid telling me? Odin does everything with a purpose— _compassion_ does not move him, what could he _possibly—_ what reason would he have for stealing away a Jotun whelp and pretending to raise it as his own?" His throat clicked as he swallowed, his breath shuddering.

"Brother?" Thor leaned toward him, concern written all over his face.

"I was a political _pawn_ ," said Loki. "He wanted to _use_ me to unite the two realms. 'Bring about an alliance, bring about a permanent peace, through you,' those were his exact words. It had nothing to do with compassion, nothing to do with, with protecting an innocent child; he only wanted more _power_ and thought he could gain it through me. And no wonder! He recognized me, somehow, by the, the markings on my skin perhaps, or rumors he'd heard across the battlefield, word that the king of the Jotnar had a _son._ He knew what I was, knew _whose_ I was, and stole me away, and then tried to justify it to me by saying I had been abandoned to die. Tried to excuse himself by saying those plans no longer mattered." The expression on his face turned then, from lost-puppy to anger. "Or perhaps that is why he realized that his intentions for me would bear no fruit. Perhaps he came to the conclusion that I _was_ abandoned, and figured out that he could raise no puppet king out of a giant's cub that they had already deemed too weak and pathetic to be permitted to live."

"Once again, you twist my words—"

 _"I don't care about your words!"_ Loki's scream echoed through the room as he leaped to his feet. "Your words to me are nothing but _lies!_ And they mock _me_ , call _me_ the God of Deceit, when it is _you_ who perpetrated a hoax that lasted a thousand years, upon a child who was foolish enough and hopeful enough and _naïve_ enough to believe you! You persuaded your _wife_ to play along with the ruse, and perhaps she was taken in by her own game eventually, because _her_ love I never had cause to doubt. _You,_ however… you have _no idea_ how much I despise you, Odin King. You spent my entire childhood watching, didn't you, waiting for the day when my blood would reveal itself and prove me to be the _monster_ you always feared. _That_ is why you forgave Thor for every misdemeanor, _that_ is why you sought to curb my every passion and quell my every attempt to reach _beyond my place_ , _that_ is why you permitted even the public to show scorn to the second prince of the realm—not merely because you favored him, but because you sought to protect him from becoming anything like me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter had been crawling along, and then Loki got mad and started yelling and next thing I knew the chapter was twice as long.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tony doesn't like Odin very much.

" _You are_ _wrong,_ you petulant boy!" Odin roared back. "You _were_ my son! until you threw that away, with your greed, and your—"

"I was your _disappointment._ "

"And it is _this_ that makes you unworthy, your constant—"

Loki bared his teeth, seething. "I will not _ever_ measure myself to your standards of so-called worthiness, when you could apply them to a vain _warmonger_ and not to the son who was so desperate for your approval. Your notion of worthiness changes constantly and has _never_ included me."

"It is this very desperation that makes you weak—"

"Whoa, okay, hold on. Weak? Did you really just say weak, because, wow." Both men stopped to stare at Tony, and yeah, intimidating, given that one of them had already thrown him out of a window and both of them looked like they wanted to do it again. But he couldn't keep his mouth shut, not about this. "A son is weak when he wants his dad to look at him with something like respect instead of disgust or irritation?"

"Don't tell me you're taking his side, Stark," said Hawkeye.

"Not yet but I'm starting to," Tony shot back. He shook his head at Odin. These guys were supposed to be gods, and yet… "You are a grade-A asshole, aren't you?" he said in disbelief.

"Jesus, Tony, are you trying to get us killed?"

"A kid wants your approval and instead of being an actual father and giving it to him, you decide to shut him down and mock him as a weakling? Is that really what you did? And you did it to the kid you _picked,_ too. I mean, you didn't have a choice with Thor, he was born and your son whether you liked it or not, but you _decided_ to bring Loki home; and then, what? You changed your mind? Decided he wasn't worth the effort, so you could just turn your back on him when he turned out to be inconvenient?"

"You are inserting yourself into matters about which you know nothing," said Odin, haughtiness just _dripping_ off of him.

"I dunno, I'd say you're in a room full of _experts_ on what it means to have a shitty father," Tony said with a shrug.

"Tony!" Trust Steve to be the one to try and rein him in.

"I mean, far as I know, the only person here who remembers a happy childhood is Thor, and isn't it funny that his own brother _doesn't remember_ the same thing he does?"

"What Loki remembers and what he claims to remember are seldom the same thing."

"And again, I gotta say, wow."

"It's a fair point," put in Bruce. "You raised a little kid from Jotunheim, in a culture that hates Jotunheim, and you never even told him. Were you planning on telling him, ever? On letting him know who he really was, or giving him time to come to terms with that?"

"He said he wanted to protect me from the truth," said Loki.

"What truth?" Bruce threw one hand in the air in exasperation. "What is there about being a Jotun, about belonging to any sentient species, that is so horrible a person would need to be protected from knowing anything about it, even though he _is_ one?"

"You recall what we were taught," said Thor, looking at the rest of the team. And yeah, yeah Tony did. Bunch of racists. Maybe to them being a Jotun really was a horrible thing. But to leave a kid ignorant of his own heritage and then have him find out like that…

Thor was apparently on the same page as the rest of them, because he looked over at Odin, shaking his head in disappointment, or maybe sorrow. "Were you trying to protect Loki from thinking himself a monster? It was you who permitted those beliefs to persist; you permitted the people to speak of the Jotnar as mindless savages, as vicious brutes, when you _knew_ better, when there was a brilliant, clever, studious, _audacious_ Jotun right here in front of them." Thor had folded his arms and was looking at Odin as if seeing him for the first time. "You permitted Loki to believe such things, and then when he discovered the truth he decided they must be true of him as well." He turned to his brother, who was looking at him in a mix of residual anger and shock. "Is that not what happened?"

Loki blinked. "Yes, and worse." He studied Thor's face. "Everything I had ever believed was a lie. My place in the world, my position as a prince, as your brother… Even my _skin_ was a lie. I still have not looked upon an image of my own, true face. I only recognize myself in the mirror when I am wearing the disguise he put on me." His eyes darted around, not making eye contact with his brother, flicking off to the side and then back. "If even my very _species_ was a lie… then how could I trust any of the other things I had ever believed about myself?"

"Trust this," said Thor. "You are my brother and always will be."

Loki looked up again, and maybe the rest of the table couldn't see it, but Tony was close enough to pick up on the raw vulnerability in his eyes. Which was more than a little uncomfortable to look at; Tony didn't do emotion.

"I wish," Loki said finally, "that I could have been as certain of that then, as I am able to be now. So much would have happened differently, if…" He trailed off, turning his head away.

"Tony," Natasha spoke up, "even if your assessment is correct, about the way Odin might have treated the two of them, none of that excuses what Loki did. You don't get a free pass for murdering innocent people just because you didn't get enough hugs as a kid." She glanced sideways at Loki and then back to Tony. "He made his own choices."

"I never said it excused a thing," Tony said. "What, you think I'm just going to overlook everything he did? Because I haven't, and I haven't forgiven him for it, either." He pinned Loki with a look. "I sure as hell haven't forgotten Phil."

"No, of course not—"

"It isn't an excuse, but it's a hell of an explanation," he finished. "I mean, that's what we're here for, right? An explanation? The big glass statue over there was looking for Loki so She could tell him that ugly alien dude was dead. She didn't have to bring us here for that. She brought us here so we could hear Loki's side of the story. We're here for an explanation, and part of that explanation is that Odin was a shitty father."

"You, a mortal, have the audacity to sit there and baldly insult me?" Odin seemed like he couldn't decide whether or not to be pissed off or just contemptuously amused at this point, but Tony was happy to help make that decision for him.

"Oh, honey, you don't know me at all," he said, and smiled his paparazzi smile. "Tony Stark, genius, inventor, fan _tast_ ically wealthy, Iron Man. And you have _no idea_ what I have the audacity to do."

"I am the king of the Nine Realms—"

"But we're not your subjects." Tony leaned forward and propped one elbow on the table, drumming his gauntleted fingers like he didn't have a care in the world. He indicated the Norns' vessel with his chin. "She already reminded you of that, remember? You conquered Jotun-land and then turned your back and left them to starve. You've ignored _us_ for so long you're nothing but a bunch of _myths_ to us. Old gods nobody even believes in anymore, except for a few New Age-y types and the occasional skinhead."

"After the war with Jotunheim, we chose to withdraw from the affairs of men."

"Then you don't get to have it both ways," said Tony. "If you're gonna call yourself our ruler, you gotta actually rule us. But if you're just gonna spend _hundreds_ of years doing nothing but sit up here with your thumb up your ass, you don't get to suddenly turn around and call yourself the king of anything, the second someone says something you don't like."

"If you recall, Stark," Loki spoke up, a little calmer now finally, "the Norns have also already called Odin All-Father a hypocrite. For you to do so now is… gratifying, perhaps, but redundant." He turned to Widow and nodded. "And you are correct that my choices were, and are, my own. I am not here to present excuses, nor to pass the blame for my actions onto anyone else, nor to seek your forgiveness. Perhaps my upbringing did shape my ability to choose the correct path, as it shaped Thor's assumptions and sense of entitlement, but I was still the one to choose. What I did here, in Asgard, was what seemed to me at the time to be the best or sometimes the only option. That I was not entirely clearheaded in the face of crisis is my own failing. As you say, that is an explanation but does not erase the gravity of all I have done."

"What I do not understand," said Thor thoughtfully, "is the way you seem to alternate between showing remorse for your crimes, and reveling in their barbarity. You were imprisoned for what you did; remorse could have seen you released, in time. Yet I cannot tell whether you truly feel it."

"Fair enough," said Loki, pouring himself yet another cupful of mead. "Neither can I. I can only relay to you what I felt when all this first took place, and at that time, most of it was so overwhelming as to be incomprehensible. Impossible to pick apart and identify everything that was tumbling about, inside my head."

He took a quick breath in through his nose, pressing his lips together in thought. "The truth was revealed to me," he said finally. "At the worst possible time, given all the other events in motion, and in the worst possible way. For there was no reassurance to be had; I grew belligerent, as centuries of bottled up hurt and anger finally found a _reason_ for the unequal treatment between me and my brother, and as I confronted the man I had believed to be my father, he collapsed into the Odinsleep."

"Right in front of you?" asked Thor, incredulous.

"On the steps of the vault itself," Loki replied.

"For the rest of the class… he fell asleep while you were yelling at him?" asked Tony.

"Odin is both king and a powerful seidmadr in his own right," explained Loki. "His age as well as the bonds between ruler and realm grant him a special sort of seidr, of magical energy, that we call the Odinforce. With it flowing through his veins, he can see and influence much of what occurs throughout the realm; it is how he knew when the Jotnar entered the vault, for example. The Odinforce does have its flaws, however; the relevant one here is that this power, while great, nevertheless places a strain upon his body that requires him to enter a trance state in order to rest, perhaps once every several years. This respite is known as the Odinsleep, and can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks at a time. It must be entered deliberately, with preparation, lest the energies of the Odinforce overwhelm a weary mind and aging body, and cause him to die before waking."

"Father had been preparing for my coronation for some time," said Thor, "and had chosen to push back against his need for the Odinsleep for longer than he ought to have done. I remember that when he came to rescue us on Jotunheim, Laufey mocked him, saying that he looked weary. I can only assume that the strain of the day's events came to a head when Loki confronted him, and he was finally unable to resist the pull of the Odinsleep, and succumbed."

"Which in itself was also frightening," said Loki. "It is unsettling enough to see one's father helpless for days at a time, even when we have prepared for his rest; more so, for me at least, when it came upon him at a time when I most needed an anchor. Everything was being systematically ripped away from me, it seemed: our stability as a realm, as we faced a sudden war; my place, my very identity, as the truth of my heritage was exposed; my brother, possibly never to return; my fa—the man I called father, possibly never to awaken. The only person I had left to whom I might turn was my mother, and she…" He shut his eyes and took a long swallow of his mead.

"What could she possibly have done?" asked Thor.

"You recall what I said earlier, that she has ever taken on the role of apologist for Odin's actions, whether she agreed with them or not," replied Loki. "She said that she wanted hadn't to leave me unaware of my own blood, to lie to me as they had, but they did so anyway because they never wanted me to _feel different_." He chuckled sadly.

"Those words are the truth," said Odin.

"Then you must never have paid attention to my surroundings at all," said Loki. "Or else you preferred to spin a pleasant fiction to tell yourselves as well. I was _always_ different. And I never understood what I was doing _wrong._ Your lies never kept me from feeling like an outcast in this realm, they only kept me from understanding _why_ , and from being able to do anything about it." He chuckled again, just the barest huff of air. "The only ones you succeeded in protecting were yourselves…" He looked away from Odin then, and caught Tony's eye. "And it was in that state of mental, emotional, and political upheaval that I was made king."

"You, uh, didn't steal it?" confirmed Bruce.

He shook his head. "The All-Father was incapacitated; his heir, the crown prince, was gone. Mother ought to have taken over as regent, but refused to be moved from her husband's side. That left me, according to the official line of succession. The speaker for the council of elders brought Gungnir—the spear you see in Odin's hand, the symbol of his office—brought it into the very chamber where Odin lay, and knelt, and presented it to me. I remember that I looked over my shoulder at Frigga and she said, 'Make your father proud, _my king._ '"

Tony winced with a hiss. Bad move, on her part. "No pressure."

Loki inclined his head. "Perhaps she meant it as a show of her faith, that even though her foundling son was a Jotun, she still trusted him with the safety of the realm. But at the time… it was only another weight upon my shoulders. It felt like a sick joke, to hand the scepter to a _Frost Giant_ and tell it to _make Odin proud_." He shook his head. "Then again, it felt like a tremendous opportunity; I had this sense that perhaps _this time_ Father would see what I was capable of, and look upon me with favor. Without Thor there to overshadow my accomplishments, perhaps _this_ would be enough." Again, he shook his head, this time with an expression of disgust painting his face. "Such a young and foolish little pet I was. To make it worse, she revealed to me that there was a possibility Thor might be able to return. She reminded me of what I already knew, that there is a purpose to everything Odin does. Thor's banishment was not permanent; he must face a test, a trial of some unknown nature, and if he passed it he would be able to return.

"So many different objectives lay spread before me in that moment, it was difficult to reconcile them, and I don't know that I could have done so even in a more rational frame of mind. Once again, I faced the burden of cleaning up after Thor's mess, this time with the whole of Asgard watching. I needed to rule, and rule well, while my father slept; needed to prove myself. And I had to do it all before Thor could solve Odin's little puzzle and return, and cast me back into obscurity." Loki sighed, and drank. "On a less political note, part of me needed Thor to return so that I would not have to face all this alone, but at the same time I did not believe I would be able to trust my brother with any of what I had learned, that he would scorn me as a monster and that his rejection, on top of everything else, would break me. On a _more_ political note, I needed Thor to remain on Midgard long enough not to aggravate what was already an extremely sensitive political situation. All this, while struggling with the inescapable fact that my brother was not truly my brother and never had been."

"So what did you do?" Steve prompted.

"I was pondering how best to manage Jotunheim," Loki replied, "when the Warriors Three, and the lady Sif—Thor's friends, his toadying lackeys—trooped into the throne room, _demanding_ of the All-Father that he lift the banishment and return their precious playmate to them. They were most surprised when they finally looked up from their little tirade and realized that it was not Odin seated upon Hlidskjalf, but me." He smiled bitterly, and once again reached for the bottles in front of him. "I told them the truth: I could not permit my first edict as king to overrule Odin's final one before the Odinsleep. In any case, even if I were to lift the banishment I did not have the authority, nor the ability, to restore Thor's powers. What would be the point of bringing him home as a helpless mortal, surrounded by Aesir?" His eyes narrowed in disgust, and he threw back his drink and downed it in two gulps. "They did not accept that. In fact, Sif behaved as if my position was some sort of prank, and moved to threaten me. Apparently the word of a king is easily ignored, when one is accustomed to romping after the crown prince and acting with impunity for centuries. Apparently the kingship is a joke, and need not be respected, when one simply does not _like_ the one who holds the throne."

"I never knew this," said Thor.

"In your defense, I was not around to recount the tale," said Loki; Thor flinched, and Loki subsided, grimacing a little in sympathy. "They say Odin is able to see and hear while in his trance, and surely Heimdall had his eye upon the treacherous cuckoo, sitting in a chair that was too big for him and above his station. I wonder that neither of them looked into my reign to see what went wrong while I was thought dead. Or perhaps they did, and simply found no fault with what your little followers did."

Thor looked uncomfortable over Loki's words, but didn't say anything in response. He did, however, risk a look at Odin at the other end of the table, who simply sat there as inscrutable as always, as if he really thought none of this could touch him. Whatever; Tony had dealt with plenty of pompous assholes in his lifetime and this guy wasn't even breaking new ground on that front.

"I forbade them to go," said Loki; "forbade Heimdall to open the Bifrost. They took less than two hours to defy me. I had done nothing wrong at this point—"

"Except for the thing with the Jotnar in the vault," interrupted Tony. Loki leveled a mild glare at him, but still answered him.

" _As king_ , I had done nothing wrong. I had tried to uphold the edicts of the All-Father in his absence. _As king_ , it was my prerogative to forbid them to leave, and in a time of war it was prudent to do so, even if my main reason was to prevent Thor's return. But even that had political motivations; Thor with his powers returned could only upset a delicate balancing act that I hoped to engage with Laufey, and Thor _without_ his powers returned would be a liability and a weakness, too easy to kill or take as a hostage if we should descend into actual warfare with the Jotnar." Loki began to snarl again, all the liquor he'd been tossing back either making him more volatile than usual, or else just letting them see how volatile he already was. " _As king,_ my orders ought to have been obeyed without _question,_ but Heimdall permitted them to come for you on Midgard. The power invested in Hlidskjalf and Gungnir showed me that he neatly sidestepped the command not to open the Bifrost for them, by opening it before they arrived and then turning his back while they used it. _Childish, petty, disobedient._ Tell me, All-Father, have you ever ordered your unruly servant _whipped_ for his insubordination? He _ought_ to have been."

"He did what he thought was best for Asgard."

"He _defied his king_ , the rightful regent in your absence, because he did not _feel like_ obeying my commands. Would you be so forgiving if it had been _Thor_ on the throne, and he had disobeyed in such a manner? Heimdall defied _you_ by allowing those useless fools to attempt to bring Thor home, and if we had actually been at war he would have been guilty of aiding and abetting _desertion_ by four warriors who liked to boast of themselves _constantly_ that they were great and mighty Aesir _heroes."_

Thor's eyes grew wide, and to Tony's everlasting satisfaction, even Odin looked a little taken aback.

"Let me guess," said Tony, "Loki's right and you're only just now realizing it."

The Norns' vessel stepped forward then, Her gaze steady as she faced down the All-Father. "Now you begin to see, Deceiver, why we value him so. You knew him from infancy; it should not have taken so long for you to understand."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some readers when I first posted this on FFnet had commented wondering when we'd get to the point of Loki's story. We're sort of in the middle of that. Sorry to anyone who thinks we're dragging. I've said before that I don't think this is quite my best work. I'll take suggestions if anyone feels like offering. (I may eventually turn out to ignore them, but I'll at least listen.)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki is drunk and broken.

Odin had that weird, almost-warm look on his face again, the one he got whenever it looked like maybe Loki had done something Odin had wanted or hoped for him to do. The one that almost looked like he could maybe be an actual father, after all.

Loki glared at Odin, and it surprised Tony to see how in that moment the wounded pouting teenager was entirely absent, and the person sitting there instead was every inch a ruler. "In fact, by Laufey's own words, we _were_ at war. One of my tasks was to prepare Asgard for imminent attack in retaliation for Thor's little escapade. But the _Warriors Four,"_ he spat the words, "placed a higher priority on their friendship with Thor than they did on the oaths they had sworn to their realm. Perhaps they were hoping to dodge responsibility for their actions as well. Instead they only compounded them."

"The penalty for desertion is death, Loki," said Thor worriedly. "Or else mortality and exile, which amounts to the same thing on a slower time scale. Surely, you cannot mean that you wish them dead, they who accompanied us on our travels for most of our lives…"

"They accompanied _you,_ Thor," Loki reminded him. "They were never the friends to me that they were to you, even when I still was naïve enough to wish it were otherwise. For your sake I might not wish them dead, but for their own actions, you cannot deny that at the very least they deserve to be publicly flogged until their blood stains the cobblestones."

"Nice image," said Tony. Yeah, okay, he wasn't ashamed to admit that this whole bloodthirsty vibe was making him uncomfortable. If the Norns loved Loki so much, why weren't they saying anything about the more, oh, _insane_ aspects of his personality?

"What happened next?" prompted Steve, and Tony shot him a grateful look.

"In my desperation and anger, I began to go a little mad," said Loki with a tiny smile on his face. Yeah. Insane. "It occurred to me that even the most fanatically loyal Aesir still would not turn away from Thor long enough to do more than pay lip service to me. Not even the kingship was enough to win their respect. No one was even interested in giving me a chance to see what I could do."

"Hell of a pout you've got there," said Natasha, and Loki just gave her a _look._

"I began to cast about for a way to truly earn my so-called father's favor," he said as if she hadn't interrupted, "and I found one. Thor was banished for starting a war. What if I could end it? What if I could do so without any Aesir losses, and what if I could do it in such a way as to prove to Odin that I was truly his son? Further, since it was clear I would not have any assistance from those whose oaths to serve Asgard apparently meant nothing, what if I could do so _singlehandedly_?" He made a little face and reached for the purple liqueur again. "As I said at the beginning of this sordid little tale, the motivations seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. Honorable, even. The choices I made, poor though they were in hindsight, seemed like the best and sometimes only options available to me."

"Okay, so what did you choose?" Bruce asked, with the _okay-I'll-bite_ air of a man filling an expected role.

"I returned to Jotunheim, in secret, and spoke to their king. My blood father, as I'd only recently learned. I offered him a temptation; he could come to Asgard himself and slay the All-Father while he was… indisposed. With his opposition dead, he could reclaim the Casket of Ancient Winters for himself, and restore his kingdom to its former glory." Fill the cup, toss the drink back, give that full-body shudder. "I remember at the time laughing internally at the idiotic savages and looking around at the ruins of their kingdom with contempt. How could they not suspect a trap? And who knows, perhaps Laufey did. Perhaps he thought the risk was worth the reward. Had I known then what the Casket truly was…" He trailed off, and for a moment Tony thought he looked… sad. Genuinely remorseful.

"Upon my return I spoke to Heimdall and asked him to make sure no one used the Bifrost." He rubbed his forehead. "Forgive me, it's been some time and I am greatly enjoying the effects of my drink. I may have recounted the sequence of events inaccurately." He shook himself, poured another double of the nasty cough syrup stuff. "No matter. I spoke with Heimdall. I gave the command. I was within my rights as king to order such, and I had legitimate reasons for doing so. It was not the Gatekeeper's place to question those commands, nor to second-guess either the commands or my reasons for them, nor to creatively interpret them to suit his own ends. And yet he did so, and set all my plans at risk." He downed another cupful, shuddered. "Do you hear me, good Heimdall? You knew what I was for longer than I did, was that why you despised me so? Even when I had done nothing to deserve it?"

"Keep going," said Steve, and Loki sneered at him.

"Do shut up, soldier," he replied, and Thor elbowed him.

"No offense, but you're headed toward rambling drunk land again," said Tony. "Shouldn't that bottle be close to empty by now?"

"Not this one," said Loki, "it's enchanted. I enchanted it. When I was not yet an adolescent, as you measure such things."

"No kidding?"

"I'm quite proud of it," Loki replied, "my voice had not yet changed and for my skill level it was a fairly complicated working. Half my tutors were not even capable of the things I could do at that age."

"Topic, brother," said Thor resignedly.

"Ah yes. Thank you, brother." He poured and drank another round, and Tony was starting to worry at just how quickly he was pounding them down. The only times Tony wanted to get that hammered that quickly was when he was trying to drown unpleasant memories.

"Trap neatly laid. Bifrost closed, only not, because those miserable, sniveling whores to Thor's greatness merrily deserted Asgard and trooped down to Midgard, to find my brother and drag him back to where he would be of no use whatever. Measures needed to be taken."

Thor sighed. "The Destroyer?" he asked.

"The Destroyer."

"Was that the giant robot thing that started blowing everything up?" asked Hawkeye.

"It was," said Loki, and damn. Tony had gotten a look at the reports SHIELD had on the thing, and it wasn't pretty.

"Here, Lady Widow, is another of those perfectly reasonable yet ultimately very poor choices. Does it not amuse you?"

"You're telling me sending that thing down to Earth was reasonable?"

Loki shrugged. "In case it escaped your notice, apart from Thor's recently-acquired fondness, Asgard cares nothing for Midgard. You are perceived as a backward little world inhabited by a backward little race. You're intelligent enough, but you barely live long enough to do anything with that intelligence. You're… cute. Almost like people, but not quite."

"Nice," glared Hawkeye, and Loki smiled at him.

"Your world makes for a perfectly safe dumping ground for Asgard's problem children, and a playground for Asgard's more beloved children," he said. "Remember, we've ignored you for centuries. Asgard may not bear any hostility toward you, but by the same token, what would we care about your wellbeing?"

"A true king is sworn to protect the Nine Realms," said Odin archly.

"I've seen your _protection_ ," Loki scoffed. "Don't act as though you've any ground to stand on." He tipped his head back and swallowed more purple booze, then turned back to Natasha. "Would I do things differently now? Yes, probably. Did I intend to slaughter your people then? No. In fact I gave the Destroyer no commands whatsoever regarding the mortals. My exact words: 'See to it that Thor does not return. Destroy everything.'"

"Still not seeing the reasonable part," said the captain harshly.

"From Hlidskjalf—sorry, that's the name of the throne itself, it's imbued with magic, you see, practically everything in Asgard is, really—from Hlidskjalf, I could see through the Destroyer's eyes and prevent it from doing any real harm. A few Midgarder hovels were destroyed," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Thor's friends were sufficiently distracted; Thor's mortals were fleeing and taking him along, because he recognized that he was mortal and _useless_ —" he bared his teeth for a second, before it morphed into a nostalgic smile. "That was a heady feeling, I will admit. A chance to bang out a few of my frustrations on the handful of people who _truly_ deserved it, without my precious brother involving himself."

"Except I did involve myself," said Thor.

"Yes. You did. Even an entire realm away you were still capable of disrupting very carefully laid plans."

"You killed your own brother," said Hawkeye, and oh look, the talkative drunk showed his teeth again.

"I _never_ intended for that to happen," he snarled. "I underestimated just how utterly _weak_ your people truly are, how weak the All-Father's punishment had made Thor. If I had wanted him dead I would have incinerated him. He came up and interfered in a highly satisfying battle, all covered in the trappings of humility, still ignorant of his wrongdoings against me. Attempting to apologize without even knowing what he had done. _Centuries_ , I had spent, trying to get him to pay attention to the consequences of his actions, to stop being such an arrogant little _brat,_ and in two days some _human_ was able to get him to listen where I had failed—" Loki flung his cup away, and it bounced and clattered across the stone floor and out onto the balcony, as he reached for the bottle and clutched it in his fist.

"He was my brother, complicated though the term had suddenly become, and I did love him then as I love him now. Nevertheless. His actions still deserved a good slap to the back of his head, and that was what I gave him, through the Destroyer. It wasn't supposed to even hurt him." He slumped back in his seat and groped unsteadily for Thor's shoulder, as if reassuring himself the big guy was still there. "Instead it broke his neck." He tipped the bottle up and Tony heard the liquor inside slosh about as Loki took three huge gulps. His shudder that time was so powerful it knocked a couple of tears loose from his eyes. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Thor said nothing at first, just reached for his brother and pulled him close. Loki allowed it, and slumped against him while taking another pull straight from the bottle.

"Failed. Failed, failing, failure," he said quietly.

"Your tale is nearly finished, brother," said Thor.

"There was a tiny part of my mind that thought, _Good. Now he can't interfere_ ," Loki said, his voice rasping. His eyes were fixed on the table, staring at nothing, with a desolate expression on his face. "And the rest of me _broke_ to hear it. Everything I had feared since learning I was not Aesir was coming true. People I had trusted with my life in battle had turned their backs on me. I had killed my own brother, and a part of me was _pleased_. It was becoming clearer and clearer to me thatI wasn't even a real person, I was only some Jotun monster. When it turned out that Thor had survived, all I could think was that if he came home he would _ruin_ the trap I'd set for Laufey." Another tear slid down his cheek. "Monster, monster, beast, filth."

"You are my brother."

"You are a fool." Loki shut his eyes for a second. "I needed to hurry. I had planned to bring the Jotnar by the secret paths, but there was no time for that, and in the long term it was best if they did not learn those pathways for themselves. I needed to use the Bifrost, and I needed to punish Heimdall for his disobedience." He slugged back another swallow of the drink, only this time he didn't shudder.

"I spoke with Heimdall, though at this particular moment I no longer remember exactly what was said. Something about him defying his king. Some self-righteous backtalk from him, naturally. I remember telling him that for his actions he was no longer a citizen of Asgard and that he was to be banished, and in response…" He laughed. "How ironic, Heimdall, that you would choose _that_ moment to adhere to the letter of the law, you _hateful_ old man. In response he declared that since he was no longer a citizen of Asgard he was free to attack me, and he did."

"How did you defend yourself against him?" asked Thor gently.

"Froze him. In ice. With the Casket. Turned all thick-skinned and demon-eyed, right in front of him, because what did it matter? Revealing myself to a man who had despised me since I was a child, because he knew what I was even when I did not. Wasn't like it was a secret to him. Only to me."

"And then what happened?"

Loki sat up. "Don't treat me as though I'm some fragile little child who needs to be guided to the end of this tale."

"Don't pretend this is not painful for you to recall."

"As I am currently reliving all of it in excruciating detail, in front of an audience of people who despise me, for the entertainment of the Three Sisters of Yggdrasil, I see no point in pretending anything."

"Fair enough," said Thor. "And then what happened?"

Loki slugged him on the arm. Took a drink from the bottle, but was apparently drunk enough that the shuddering had stopped. "Opened the Bifrost and let the giants in."

"Loki, surely you understand that this is treason," said Odin. "To allow the enemy into Asgard, in time of war…"

" _Odin_ , surely you understand that the king cannot commit treason against himself," Loki drawled. "I've already told you, it was always my intention to slay Laufey. Cut off the head, and the claws cannot strike. Heimdall interfered. The Warriors Three and Sif interfered. Thor resurrecting himself and passing your little test interfered, since it meant I needed to rush."

"Never rush a miracle man, sonny," quoted Tony, "you get rotten miracles."

Loki snickered, but the sound was broken and sad. "Something like that." He sighed, and took another drink, and Tony winced. "Laufey went into Odin's chamber, and disarmed my mother when she moved to defend her husband. The king of the Jotnar, my sire by blood, leaned over the All-Father's helpless form and said that he hoped it was true, the stories that say Odin can see and hear everything even when he's in his trance. Because he wanted Odin to know his death came at the hand of Laufey. And he created an ice dagger, and raised it high above his head… and I fired upon him with Gungnir. I said to him, _And yours came at the hand of a son of Odin,_ and I fired again and killed him."

Loki slumped back against Thor's side again, resting his head on his brother's shoulder. "Which officially makes me a kinslayer, even though my _kin_ intended for me to die first, long ago, as an infant. Or so I believed at the time. It was all right, though. It was beautiful theater, after all, and besides, what else could you expect from a Jotun monster, but to slay his own blood?"

He said nothing for a long moment, just leaned against Thor and stared off into space all bleary-eyed and sad, until finally Odin broke the silence. "Thor returned shortly thereafter, did he not?"

"Practically in the same moment," said Loki. "That spiteful, petty door-guard of yours managed to break free of the ice encasing his body, slew the two Jotnar who were guarding the Bifrost, and opened it to retrieve Thor and his followers. I'd killed Laufey, and that ought to have been the end of it." He grinned lopsidedly, hoisting the bottle high. "But then, the failed coronation and Thor's little tantrum ought to have been the end of it; returning from Jotunheim the first time ought to have been the end of it. _Everything_ ought to have been the end of it, but the false son, the _Jotun pet_ masquerading as an Aesir prince, made a ruin of everything he touched.

"Laufey was dead. My mother had run to me, and for a brief, shining moment I was the _savior of Asgard_ , her beloved son, heroic and brave… and while she still held me in her arms, Thor came storming into the room, Mjolnir in hand, absolutely furious with me, and it all came crashing down like the poorly crafted illusion it really was."

"He was angry about the Destroyer?" asked the captain.

Loki lifted the bottle to his lips again, although he didn't immediately take a drink; the motion was more languid and heavy than it had been. "He was angry because, in an effort to discourage him from satisfying Odin's criteria and ending his banishment, I had told him that Odin was dead, that our continued peace with the Jotnar was contingent upon his remaining on Midgard forever, that Mother didn't wish to see him…"

"Jesus, you deliberately crushed him, didn't you?"

"I admit that seeing the perfect, golden son _finally_ brought low—finally _understanding_ what it was to be outcast, friendless and alone, unwanted, _blamed_ for all misfortune, finally not the perfect one whom all adored whether he deserved it or not—yes, I admit that that desire motivated me as well. It was good for him. Built _character_." He shrugged fluidly and took another swallow, then licked the purple off his lips. "I would never have discovered the hideous truth if it had not been for him; would have continued believing myself a member of Asgard's royal family and not a deformed abomination, if he hadn't gotten it into his head to go marching off and inciting war with the Jotnar. So yes. I hated and blamed him, and wanted to make him _hurt_ as I had hurt."

"Pretty dick move," said Barton.

"I never claimed it wasn't," said Loki.

"I get the feeling we're almost to the end of this story," said Natasha, and Loki smiled.

"Oh no. Not really. Perhaps two thirds of the way in. Or perhaps this was all a long and painfully drawn out introduction to the real tale. You will be the judge when all is said, my lady." Loki shoved himself more or less upright; he looked at the bottle still clutched in his hand, then set it on the table with exaggerated care. "I had managed for about five seconds to deny my blood and prove I was still worthy of Asgard's gilded halls, and then Thor returned and _he_ was the conquering hero and I was merely a deceitful Frost Giant savage. I was almost completely out of my head by that point, and I decided that there was nothing left but to walk away, refuse to face Thor, and take one last solution to erasing everything that I so desperately did not wish to be."

Thor shut his eyes and drew one hand across his forehead, and Tony got a really bad feeling.

"The Bifrost, do you remember how I described it as a kind of anchored vortex, one that sucks in its passengers and flings them elsewhere?"

"Yeah…" said Bruce.

Loki nodded. He propped one elbow on the table and cupped his chin in his hand, while his free hand played around tracing the curves of the two bottles of liquor in front of him. "Well. It turns out that the Bifrost cannot be left open for long periods of time, or it will act more like a drill bit, or an awl, and _punch_ right through the very bedrock of the destination planet. Leave it open long enough and you just might destroy that planet entirely. It's not just a speedy means of travel, it's a terrific weapon, too. I think you mortals call that multi-tasking, do you not? Or versatile. Yes. The Bifrost is _versatile_."

Tony heard the little gasp from Steve's end of the table, but he couldn't tear his eyes off Loki to acknowledge it. Everyone else seemed to be holding their breath; it was so quiet Tony could hear a crow calling outside, somewhere past the balcony.

"I thought…" Loki paused, then started again. "I thought it would be all right. Odin's father virtually exterminated the Svartalfar over the course of his reign; Fath—Odin had conquered and slaughtered his fair share and was regarded as a hero. He always tried to tell us that a king should not send his people to their deaths if it can ever be avoided, and here I was, _avoiding_ it. And anyway, they were," he gave another broken little laugh, "they were _only_ Jotnar." A tear broke loose and traced down his cheek, but Loki barely blinked. "And there was some mad, little voice in my head that insisted, I couldn't be _part_ of a race of monsters if the only _example_ of the race was me."

He swallowed thickly, heavily. Then he turned to the big glass statue, the one Tony had almost forgotten was there since She'd been so quiet all this time, and whispered, " _I am sorry._ "

"We know, guardian," She replied.

"You shouldn't call me that," he said, shaking his head as more tears slipped across his face to drip from his jaw.

"So you…" Natasha cleared her throat. "You destroyed a planet?"

"No." He shook his head, reached for the purple liqueur, and stopped. His voice was desolate and empty as he continued. "No, Thor came out and tried to persuade me to stop. I provoked him into fighting me. He won, of course. He always wins. And he saved Jotunheim—the planet he'd gone to looking for a bloodbath, only two days prior—saved the Frost Giants by destroying the Bifrost. It was ancient, and beautiful, and it was supposed to be indestructible, but after I desecrated it, he destroyed it."

Thor said nothing, but he was blinking rapidly as his jaw clenched and unclenched. His eyes were red, while Loki's face despite the tears turned more and more pale.

"The destruction generated a massive explosion, and Thor and I were thrown high into the air and out over the abyss. The vortex, the tunnel between this world and that, was unanchored; this will be important to remember. We were falling towards it, about to be sucked into the maelstrom, when Odin appeared out of nowhere and caught Thor by his ankle. He woke from his Odinsleep just in the nick of time, or perhaps he forced himself to wake once he saw that Thor was in danger. Convenient, the timing he has for appearing and disappearing when he is most needed."

Tony glanced at Odin out of the corner of his eye; the old king looked like he was itching to say something, but he also looked—huh. Tony would swear he actually also looked almost as sad and upset as Thor did.

Loki noticed none of this, still talking in that hollow, dead voice. "And Thor was holding one end of Gungnir, which I had been wielding in our battle and which was used to activate the Bifrost, while I was holding the other end, by one hand. I looked up, into the face of the man I'd always called father, had always _loved_ as a father, and tried to explain my actions. Tried to tell him that everything I had done, I'd done for Asgard, and for him. To prove myself worthy of _him_. And he said..." He glanced up, face drawn and sickly. "What did you say, All-Father? Tell them. Tell the mortals what you said to me, to the one you kept trying to insist was your son, while I was hanging by one hand over an abyss both physical and psychic."

"Loki," said Thor lowly, "brother, please, don't do this—"

" _Tell them!_ " It was practically a scream and it echoed in the room, backed by a shockwave of green energy that made all of them jump. Tony wasn't sure he'd ever heard so much anguish in one person's tone before. Though he was pretty sure he'd seen it behind his own eyes, when he looked into the mirror some nights.

Odin shut his eye, and damn if his voice didn't quiver just the slightest bit. "I said, 'No, Loki.'"

At the other end of the table, Loki began to laugh, hoarse and half-sobbing. "'No, Loki.' Despite everything I'd done for him. Despite all my best, most noble intentions. Despite centuries of trying to please him, to protect Thor, to be a good son, to clean up after _everyone_ else's messes. 'No, Loki.'" His laughter quieted as he said simply, "And that was when I knew. When it finally sank in that I was not, never had been, and never would be his son. I would never be _enough._ I had been so foolish, so _stupid!_ But now, I finally understood, and so I…"

"Brother," said Thor, burying his face in his hands.

"…I let go."


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki goes for a walk and the Avengers have a snack break.

"Does that not delight you, Agent Barton?" Loki asked, looking down the table with bleary eyes. "To know that your tormentor was so weak, so cowardly, that he chose to die rather than face the consequences of his actions?"

Tony glanced down the table, but it looked like Barton was actually keeping his mouth shut for once. He still looked like he _wanted_ to say something, definitely, but for whatever reason he was deciding to keep it to himself.

"What about you, Agent Romanov, hm? Captain? Does it please you to see how very _small_ your hated enemy truly was?"

"Brother, stop, I beg of you."

Loki didn't acknowledge Thor's words, didn't even look at him, but he did stop talking to stare at Odin, a weary little half-smile playing across his face. "How convenient it must have been for you, All-Father; the unruly pet you'd brought home for Thor to play with had proven too difficult to control, but you were spared the trouble of doing away with it yourself. How disappointed you must have been when you found out I wasn't dead after—"

"That is enough," said Odin, everything about him calm, cold. Remote, distant. Son of a bitch didn't look like he even cared enough to be angry. "You have already crafted a fine story for yourself—"

"Oh, no, All-Father, ask the Norns themselves. I lie far less than you would like to believe. I always have. And today, I have spoken only the truth, as I perceived it, and _I hope you choke on it_."

"You assign me all the blame for your actions!"

"I assign you the complete lack of empathy it would require to crush a desperate man when he needed you most." Loki's teeth flashed, but the motion was too swift and painful to be a real smile. "Never forget that I might have lived, might have climbed back to safety and stayed away from Midgard entirely, _might never have encountered the Titan_ , if it had not been for _you_."

"Do you know nothing of the Odinsleep?" Odin demanded, glaring down the table at his would-be son. Not so remote now, Tony thought.

"You also seem to have forgotten that I recently guided you safely through a Sleep that lasted for nearly three months. I daresay I understand more of its workings than you do."

"Then I suppose you know all about the _difficulties_ that arise in dragging oneself into wakefulness before the proper time!"

Loki blinked at him, drunk as a skunk, but Tony thought he was maybe in that skeptical _this-ought-to-be-good_ kind of place, given the way his eyebrows rose.

"I could barely walk," said Odin, "and it was only through sheer will and seidr that I was able to reach you and Thor in time to prevent you both from being sucked into the vortex _you_ created. What makes you think I was capable of speech? My voice was stilled, my tongue as a stone within my mouth. I said to you 'No, Loki,' because that was all I _could_ say."

Loki blinked for a moment, trying to hide his surprise and not exactly succeeding, before he mustered up a smooth, condescending smile. "Ah, so you blame me for misinterpreting you, as well." He reached for the bottle and dragged it towards him. How the man wasn't slurring and half-conscious by now, Tony had no idea. " _You_ didn't drive me to suicide, _you_ are absolved of all wrongdoing. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this. Like father, like son, after all."

"You fell and I nearly dropped your brother in my horror and grief!" Odin pounded his fist on the table before pointing at Loki with the Finger of Doom. "You chose to let go and _die,_ before my very eyes, and after I dragged Thor back onto the remains of the bridge, I nearly collapsed a second time! Once we had returned to the palace, I _did_ collapse. It was a full thirteen days before I could wake again."

"And I suppose that is my fault as well, that Frigga and Thor were left to mourn _alone,_ while you surrendered to oblivion yet again."

" _Stop! Twisting my words!"_

"Stop speaking self-exonerating lies," Loki sneered flatly.

"No, that'd be you," muttered Barton, and Loki just looked at him blankly for the longest time, before beginning to laugh, low and mad and _oh shit,_ Tony still had flashbacks about that sound. After one last gulp of the nasty purple booze, Loki pulled away from Thor and got to his feet in one smooth motion, as Thor looked at him in startlement. Gold light glimmered across Loki's body, and just like that, instead of a prison uniform he was wearing a snazzy black and green suit with long coat and high boots. Definitely not Earth fashion, but not quite like he'd been wearing the last time they'd met, either. Tony wasn't sure if the effect was less intimidating, or more so, because of the way he swayed back and forth ever so slightly as he stood.

With a gesture, the crystal treasure chest reappeared in Loki's hands, and the blue began creeping back up across his skin. Odin pulled himself to his feet, reaching for his spear, and Tony saw Natasha pull a knife out of wherever the hell she hid them. Loki, however, didn't even look at the rest of them. His red eyes were only for Thor, who Tony couldn't help but notice _hadn't_ immediately assumed his brother was about to go on a rampage, and for the big glass statue still standing to one side of the room.

"If you will pardon me, illustrious ladies," he said formally, "I believe I told you this would happen; I have humiliated myself, at your request, to no avail whatsoever. Now I grow weary of present company, and I also find that there is a matter before me which must be addressed before we may continue. Would you mind terribly if I were to absent myself for but a moment?"

"Brother, you are drunk," said Thor, a mix of amusement and concern on his face.

"Yes, I am. Spectacularly so. What of it?"

"Is it really safe for you to perform sorcery when you have been drinking?"

"Brother, I quite assure you, I could sky walk in my slee—"

"You mean to tell me that your title of Sky Walker was not youthful exaggeration?" asked Odin.

"At some point, I have every faith that you will eventually catch on that no one here is talking to you, All-Father." Thor looked appalled; Odin looked appalled with a side of outraged. Loki dismissed both as he turned back to his brother. "As I was saying, you need not fear. Sky walking is not the same as sorcery. It is to me what calling the storm is to you. It is child's play. Even bringing another with me will be no trouble whatsoever."

For a second, Big Thunder looked like he wanted to argue, but Tony could see the moment when the words _let it go_ passed through his brain. "And you truly don't intend to be gone long?" he asked.

Those red eyes looked down again, and Loki's expression softened. "With luck, less than an hour," he replied. "Perhaps no more than a few minutes. But I swear, I will return, if only for your sake."

"And why do you not wish to take me with you?"

"To the mortals here assembled, you are the only friendly face in the whole of Asgard," said Loki. "Would you really leave them here to fend for themselves while Odin is in a _snit?_ "

"I will not allow—" Odin began, but Loki rolled his eyes—which looked really weird now that his eyes didn't look human—and grumbled, "Oh, shut up," as he made a little flinging gesture with his hand. A bundle of fabric and fur appeared on the table in front of Black Widow. She glanced at it in a little flicker of her eyes, just long enough to make sure it wasn't going to attack her, before frowning at Loki.

"I am given to understand that the part of your world where you originally grew up is quite cold, is that not so?" He bowed courteously to her, the effect spoiled by the way he staggered off-balance for a second. He grinned, and Tony was startled to see that even his teeth were different in this shape. Pointier, mostly. "You can be my _chaperone_."

"Is this your idea of flirting?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"This is my idea of finding someone to accompany me who will observe without missing important details, report to her comrades without bias, and above all will be capable of keeping her mouth shut so she doesn't get us both killed." He tipped his head lazily to look over at Tony. "If it weren't for that last consideration, I'd think about bringing you, Stark."

Tony was crushed. Really. Well, okay, actually he might have been a little disappointed. "If you're bringing back souvenirs, see if you can find me whatever they drink in Frost Giant Land," he shot back.

"I'm pretty sure they mainly drink glacial meltwater, but I'll try my best." He looked back at Natasha, amused. "You've already proven you can see through my deceptions. Go on, put on the cloak. We're going on a _trip_ together. It'll be _fun_."

"Or it'll be a way to separate me from the rest of my team and eliminate me as a threat," she countered, then smiled. "After all, we've already proven I can see through your deceptions."

Loki still looked amused, but he gave an exaggerated sigh. " _I swear_ , upon my _seidr,_ and upon the Three Sisters _themselves_ , that for the duration of this specific journey, if any harm befalls you through my deliberate action _or inaction_ , the Norns may _rip_ my magic from my very soul and throw me into the deepest darkest pits of Niflheim, there to rot, unlamented, for all eternity." He made a complicated little gesture in the air with one hand, and left a bit of glowing green light hanging in the air for a second before it faded. Tony thought maybe it looked like some kind of writing. "So swear I, Loki of Asgard. There. Are you satisfied?"

Thor looked a little like he'd swallowed a live goldfish. "Lady Romanov," he said, choking a little, "my brother has sworn upon his seidr only twice in his entire lifetime, before today. The first time, he averted a war, by identifying and empowering the rightful ruler of Alfheim in the face of those who sought to replace her with an impostor and usurp her power for themselves; the second time, he took upon himself a horrific punishment that had been intended for me, and which nearly killed him, rather than break his oath and endanger me."

"God of Lies," said Barton, and Tony kinda wanted to smack him.

"God of _Deceit_ ," corrected Loki, "there's a difference. It is true I don't make oaths often. But the ones I make, I keep. Can you say the same?" He smiled at Barton, all too knowing, and Tony decided, no, he'd kinda like to smack Loki instead.

Tasha did pick up the cloak and put it on, though. Bruce looked at her like he thought maybe she was a little nuts, and Cap was sputtering, but Odin cut him off before he could really get going.

"Where do you intend to go," he asked, and his voice hardened, "and what makes you believe I will permit you to do so?"

Loki turned to him and bared his teeth in a false smile. "Jotunheim, obviously, and what makes you believe I require your permission?"

"I will not—" Odin began, but Loki merely stepped back from the table, turned to the left, and vanished. Clint dropped a sudden f-bomb, and Tony turned to see that Natasha was gone, too. Huh. Well, then.

The humans and Thor all kind of blinked at each other for a few seconds, until Tony slapped an armored hand on the table and stood up.

"So, snack break?"

* * *

 

"What's our assessment of Loki's story?" asked Steve, once they'd all gotten over being flabbergasted and actually gotten up, stretched their legs, all that good stuff.

"He's full of shit."

"Says Legolas, to absolutely no one's surprise," filled in Tony. He reached across the buffet table for another little meat pie thing.

"Guys, enough," said Cap. "Bruce?"

"Ah, wow," said the good doctor. "I'm not the guy you wanna ask about that."

"Why not?"

Bruce sighed, scrubbed both hands over his face. "I can relate, partly? His story isn't complete yet? I mean, he admits to some pretty terrible stuff, but so far none of this has anything to do with New York, and the, uh, the Norns are implying pretty heavily—"

"Actually, no, they're pretty much stating outright—" said Tony.

"—that we don't have the full picture. That Loki's some kind of, I dunno, hero in disguise?" Bruce shook his head. "I'm not exactly spy material, you guys know that."

"No, but I am," grumbled Clint.

"No, you're a sniper," said Tony. Barton looked like he wanted to snap a reply, but Tony was being serious for once. "You kill people. That's your job, that's _literally_ what you get paid a boat-load of money to do. And I'm not judging, okay, hell I used to _supply_ whole crowds of you people. There are times when it's necessary, I get it. But. From the outside, to someone who doesn't know what's going on, all they'll know is that you kill people, from a distance, with no warning, and you don't even tell anybody why."

"You're suggesting we're looking at this from the outside?" asked Steve.

"I know we are," shrugged Tony, taking a bite into his snack, "we've only had that pointed out to us about a dozen times since we've been here. The only real question is whether or not the inside perspective will justify any of what happened."

"The, uh, Norns seem pretty sure that it will," said Bruce.

"The Norns are biased," muttered Clint.

" _You're_ biased," said Tony without missing a beat.

"Is there a reason that sounded like 'so's your mom'?"

"So's your face."

Hawkeye smacked him upside the head, and Tony grinned.

"It has occurred to me before," said Thor as he joined them, "that my brother may have been playing a role while he enacted a deeper scheme, whose surface was all we could see. The outside perspective, as friend Tony puts it. But I could never guess at what that scheme might be."

"Thanos is part of it," said Bruce. He and Tony shared a look; Tony was pretty sure they'd both mostly worked out the gist of it. "The Norns weren't exactly being subtle."

"They really don't like Odin, that's for sure," acknowledged Steve.

"Well, no, and neither do I," said Tony.

"Speaking of bias," Barton rolled his eyes. "Don't think anybody here has missed the parallels between you and the _other_ Poor Little Rich Kid, Stark. You're _this_ close to becoming BFFs with the psycho who tried to take over the world."

"Okay, A, we don't actually know that the psycho did try to take over the world, if he's really playing some kind of deeper game here. B, if you're trying to get under my skin by bringing up my personal issues, you're going to have to work a little harder than that, circus boy. And finally, C, no, I don't like Odin, because Odin's the guy who essentially wound Loki up like a little plastic duck and then turned him loose on the rest of us."

"Loki made his own choices."

"And Odin supplied him with the motivation." Tony turned to look and they all followed his gaze to where the old man stood, out on the balcony with his hands clasped behind his back, pondering whatever he and Thor had just been talking about as Big Glass Statue Lady stepped out to join him. "What kind of asshole raises a kid in a society that's completely bigoted against that kid's race, without doing anything to combat that bigotry _and_ without giving the kid the tools he would need to cope with the discrimination he was gonna face, or even cope with the awareness of what he is? From what we've learned, they've been alive for literally hundreds of years, thousands maybe…" He looked to Thor for confirmation.

"Aye, my brother and I have each recently passed our first millennium."

"…and somehow it was just _never a good time_ to bring up the fact that, 'oh, hey, you're adopted,' and maybe give the kid a little encouragement? How much effort would it have taken to throw in a 'but don't sweat it, because we picked you, it's your brother that we didn't have a choice in keeping'?"

Thor chuckled at the line, but his eyes were sad. Clearly he'd already had the same thought.

"Hell, for that matter, how hard would it have been to give the kid some kind of support network that wouldn't _fall apart_ in the span of an hour, whether he ever learned about his background or not? It's not like we've seen much of this place, we've been here less than a couple hours, even, but I get the _distinct_ impression that Loki has always stuck out here, and his own dad didn't even bother to _try_ to back him, or build him up, do anything that might have prevented him turning into the nutjob that he did."

Steve frowned, but didn't look like he was really going to argue the point. "Not that it isn't a good point, but let's get back on topic. What do we think of his story so far?"

Bruce shrugged. "Assuming the sequence of events is accurate…" he looked at Thor for confirmation.

"It is, so far as I know."

"Then, I hate to say it, but right up until he decided to blow up a planet, he hadn't really done anything wrong."

"You've gotta be kidding me," groused Clint. "You don't think telling Thor his parents were either dead or disowning him wasn't a dick move?"

"Okay, nothing criminal, then," insisted Bruce. "He didn't plan to become king, but it happened anyway. He did create a plan to stop the war, and while it was underhanded, it would have worked and it's not like our pals at SHIELD haven't planned an assassination or two. I'm assuming kings here have final authority in most matters, that it's not just a figurehead position, right?"

"That is correct," nodded Thor.

"So, trying to follow Odin's rule and keep Thor on earth was _completely_ reasonable, attempting to stop Thor's friends from going to fetch him was completely reasonable, deciding to levy a punishment on this gatekeeper guy for disobeying both Odin's and Loki's orders was also completely reasonable. But no matter what Loki did, everything either lined up against him timing-wise, or else no one was willing to even give him the benefit of the doubt and let him _do his job_ as king."

"Especially not these warrior clowns," said Tony. "I mean, maybe they don't think they can trust him any farther than they can throw him, but that sounds like a communication breakdown that's been around for a _really_ long time, and also from the sound of it, it's maybe only a little bit justified."

"The dragon thing." Clint crossed his arms and looked disgusted with himself for not automatically trashing the trickster. He sighed and went on, "Cleaning up after other people's mistakes, operating behind the scenes, and either refusing to explain his side of the story or else not being allowed to give it. He said he got his reputation as a lying scumbag based on whatever conclusions those guys would jump to."

"Guilty until proven innocent," agreed Bruce.

"Did those, uh, 'warriors three' that Loki was talking about—did they ever face repercussions for their part in all this?" asked Steve.

Thor blinked. "I… there was the shock of Loki's sudden death, and then we were all in mourning… I do not believe that they ever did."

"So your brother commits suicide and they get away without even a talking-to," said Tony. "Nice." He didn't really want to take Loki's side, but damn if he just couldn't help himself. "Really great friends you got there, big guy. And your dad, wow. Shitty father _and_ a lousy excuse for a king."

"My father grieved for Loki's death!" growled Thor, clenching his jaw in offense.

"Funny way of showing it," remarked Tony. "And, you know, I notice you're _defending_ the guy who pushed his son to commit suicide."

Big Thunder flinched, but got even madder, and Bruce put on his uncomfortable face and backed up a step.

"Loki faced a perfect storm of bad events with bad timing, including the loss of _any_ kind of support from the people who were supposed to be his friends. I mean, they pretty much rubbed it in his _face_ just how much they didn't respect him," said Tony. "And the absolute cherry on top of the shit sundae was your dad, whose rejection was _also_ perfectly timed, I mean, if he _wanted_ to off his son he couldn't have planned it better… and then in the aftermath, he doesn't even lift a finger to hold those other assholes accountable? Not even a little?" He shook his head.

"You're taking this awful personally," said Hawkeye, and Tony was grateful that he at least tried to dial back the antagonism.

He took a deep breath, blew it out his nose. Yeah. He probably ought to settle down a little. "I'm not fond of any storyline where the main character gets screwed over by the people he thought he could trust," he said, and left it at that. Turning back to Thor, he said, calmer now, "All I'm saying is, if I were in your shoes, I'd want to take a long, careful look at the people around me, and _thoroughly_ pick apart their motivations, as well as I could. And I mean _especially_ the people closest to you, like these friends of yours and your dad. Why are _these_ people your friends? What do _those_ people want? What's their angle? How much of your loyalty do they really deserve? And then, I'd make some decisions about who I was gonna stand beside, and start clearing out the deadwood."

He reached for another pie, but he didn't take his eyes off Thor. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you've got some priorities to examine. And if you really think that standing with Loki is the best thing to do, if he's really going to be a priority for you, then there're some other connections you're maybe going to have to cut."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. I'm not heavily involved in the fandom apart from writing fic for Loki, and this is the first one of those I've posted anywhere. So your recs mean the world to me. (I also admit I'd be tickled to see any fanart for the Norns, drunk!Loki, or anything else that tickles your fancy. I've got a pretty good enraged!Thor coming up in a couple chapters if you're curious.)


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki shows off a little to make a point, and then gets back to the story.

Thor looked unhappy, although he at least seemed to be considering what Tony was trying to tell him. He opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, Tony was distracted by the smell of… was that curry?

Tony leaned back to look around Big Thunder's impressive bulk, and felt his eyebrows go up. "Hey guys," he said, more or less calmly.

Loki no longer looked like a stand-in for the _Avatar_ movie, and he was no longer dressed like a leather fashion model, either. Instead he wore, of all things, actual blue jeans, faded and slightly scuffed, and a white button-down shirt under a comfy-looking brown leather jacket. His hair had been pulled back into a low tail with a couple curly wisps hanging loose around his face. He looked like a travel photographer or something.

The curry smell was probably coming from him, too, since he was cupping what looked like a banana leaf in one hand, and picking bits of food out with the other and eating them delicately.

Natasha was standing next to him, looking slightly annoyed but not actually ready to kill anybody. The furry winter cloak was gone, and now she was carrying a paper sack with… was that the Bergen Bagels logo?

"Where the hell did you guys go?" demanded Clint. Took the words right out of Tony's mouth.

"Jotunheim," said Loki, with an innocent smile that looked a damn sight better on him than anything Tony had seen him pull back on Earth.

"Uh-huh, and where the hell else?"

"A little village the inhabitants call Ban Mi," said Loki.

" _Thailand_ ," said Natasha.

"I think I speak for all of us here when I ask _why,"_ said Bruce.

"There is a place in Ban Mi, a little hut, right by the river," said Loki happily, "where an old woman makes the most exquisite fish, cooked in these exotic spices." He popped another bite in his mouth, sucked a bit of sauce off his fingertip. "You can't find them in any other realm."

"Curry," said Natasha.

"Again: why?"

"Because I wanted to," said Loki. "Because I was hungry, and prison fare is boring. Because it is unwise to drink so much on an empty stomach."

"Right, because eating curry when you're already drunk enough to hurl is a _great_ idea," muttered Tony.

"Because the old woman is very sweet and I like to visit her every few years," added Loki.

"Ah," grinned Thor, "is this the woman you've told me about, who looks Vanir, and always asks if you are married?"

"First she tells me I'm too thin, and kisses me on the cheek," corrected Loki, "and _then_ she asks if I am married."

There was sort of a collective blink among the humans in the room, as they all tried to imagine the psycho who invaded New York being fussed over by a little Asian grandma.

"And the… bagels?" asked Steve.

"Well, obviously, Agent Romanov requested them," shrugged the psycho, collecting a bit of rice from his banana leaf. "And Stark did say he wanted a souvenir."

"From Jotunheim, dude."

"I have it on good authority that the food is tastier on Midgard."

" _Bozhe moy, vy vypendrezhnik_ ," Natasha rolled her eyes, and Loki did a horrible job of hiding a delighted little grin. "He said we should bring back _snacks_ for the Avengers and asked if there was anything in particular that might be suitable. I said I didn't think he'd be interested in hunting down a bagel place in Thailand, he asked where bagels came from…" She sighed. "Two steps later, we're in New York."

There was so much in just those two sentences to process and be blown away by that Tony decided to just roll with it for now and let his brain explode later. In the meantime… "Did you remember to get the dill cream cheese?"

" _Yes_ , Stark," said Natasha, dropping the sack on the table, "I remembered to get everybody's favorites. God."

"You have got to be kidding me," said Barton, but it didn't stop him from opening the bag and beginning to rummage through its contents.

"He's drunk off his ass, Clint," she replied, "what are you gonna do?"

Tony looked at Loki, then at the bag of bagels, and then thought about things like portals and nuclear missiles, and machines and rubidium, and full-tilt divas making a production out of everything. Then he combined that with what they'd learned so far about Loki and this Thanos guy… and _then_ a whole lot of if-then statements suddenly began stacking in his head. One by one, pieces began falling into place, and Tony _got it._ Son of a bitch, he got it.

He almost blurted it out, too, except that he decided it would be a hell of a lot more fun, and probably wiser, to just kick back and let Loki confirm Tony's hypotheses, and watch the sparks fly.

"So you are, truly, Loki Sky Walker," said Odin, who had come in unnoticed while they were all getting their minds blown over an intergalactic bagel delivery. The Norns' vessel was standing behind him, light from the setting sun shining brilliant orange through Her body, and smiling at Loki. It was hard to read facial expressions on a big glass statue, but Tony thought She was amused over the whole thing.

"Adds a bit of context to the time I was away from Asgard, does it not?" asked Loki, and Odin looked _deeply_ uncomfortable. Yep, Tony realized, things were starting to come clear for him, too. "But yes. As I said before we left: sky walking to me is as calling the storm is to Thor. More so, perhaps, since I doubt you could strip me of my powers the way you did him, unless you wanted me to die in agony." He crossed his legs and dropped neatly onto his cushion beside Thor, still picking at the curried fish as his jeans and jacket shimmered and transformed back into his Aesir getup. "A possibility I do not discount, in case you were wondering."

"Okay, but you did travel to Jotunheim first, right?" asked Steve, looking at Widow for confirmation.

"Well, it was somewhere overcast, dark, and with snow and ice as far as I could see," she said. "Whether it was actually Jotunheim… it's not like I have a map to tell the different worlds apart."

"It was," said the Norns, pacing regally back around the table to Her spot on the other side of the room. "We felt the guardian's steps along the branches of Yggdrasil."

Odin looked up then, and Thor seemed to tense. "What did you do there?" he asked his brother.

"What I always do," said Loki, less amused now and with more fatigue in his voice. "I cleaned up after someone else's mess."

"We, uh, came out near some ruins," said Widow, "although we didn't see them at first, we were on the other side of a small hill. Loki kept, uh… whispering to the Casket of Ancient Winters. Or maybe listening to it. Either way, he led us on maybe a five-minute walk, in the dark, straight to the ruins. There were these tall columns with steps leading up, but no roof. I thought it was missing or collapsed at first, but there wasn't any debris from that, just from the broken columns. Given the layout of the interior, I think it was some kind of open-air shrine or temple."

Steve and the others nodded; Odin went very still. Interesting.

"There wasn't anyone around as far as I could tell, although I did think I heard footsteps once. Never saw anybody. We went inside and there was a cracked stone altar, and behind it was a smaller pedestal. Loki acted like he was listening to the Casket again, then he went up and set it on the pedestal. He said something that I didn't hear, and then he stepped back."

"And what else happened?" asked Odin.

She shrugged. "There was a… vibration," she said. "It could have been sound, but it was too low-pitched for me to hear. The Casket started to glow a little brighter, and then the pedestal it was sitting on started to light up. Nothing flashy, just this… gradual spread of light. It reminded me of the way the change, from your people to Jotun, moves across Loki's skin. We stayed long enough to see the glow reach the floor, and then once it started to fan out from there he said we needed to go, so we did."

"It was… quite beautiful," said Loki softly. "There was indeed a vibration, though I think it is something only a Jotun could fully appreciate, because I lost my ability to apprehend it as I shifted back to this form. It was a new sense, something partway between tactile and auditory. There were carvings, in the rock and the ice, dulled with the passage of time, but as the magic of the Casket touched them they seemed to awaken, and to… to _sing_ , if that is the right term for it. I could feel the power in them; runes of protection and blessing, I think, based on what I could grasp of the harmonics. Quite sophisticated, actually." He had finished eating as Natasha gave her report, and now he made the banana leaf vanish with an absent-minded gesture.

"We can feel the change, even now," said the Norns. "You have treated an ancient wound, guardian, and now it can begin finally to heal."

"You were not accosted? Stopped?" asked Odin.

"We were there less than fifteen minutes," said Widow, shaking her head.

"We saw no one," said Loki, "although I agree with Agent Romanov that there were footsteps. I believe we were observed, but as we were not obviously armed, they saw no need to stop us. Also there was the small matter wherein I was openly carrying their realm's most sacred artifact back to its proper resting place, for any to observe who were present."

"How did you end up on earth?" Hawkeye asked Natasha, but it was Loki who answered.

"We moved out of sight of the temple, to the place where we'd first arrived, and I suggested to the lady that perhaps a warmer climate might be helpful for her, and also a bite to eat, to recover from the bitter cold."

"Pretty sure we were below minus twenty-five Celsius," said Natasha.

Steve leaned over toward Tony. "That's… sorry, what is that in Fahrenheit again?"

"About ten below. Cold."

"What was the, uh… sky walking… what was it like?" Bruce wanted to know, as he pushed the paper bag across the table to Steve.

"If you wish to experience it for yourself," said Loki, "I could return you to Midgard safely, after we are finished here. It might be best for you to avoid the… _excitement_ of travel by Bifrost, given your condition." He said it neutrally enough, but Tony got the impression he wasn't expecting anybody to take him up on the offer, like, ever.

"It was… weird," said Romanov, after a second's thought. "Like there were things going on that our brains aren't built to process, so it just sort of filled in where it could. I don't know that I can trust what I think I saw, or heard, or felt."

"I am told that is often the case, for those who do not carry seidr in their veins," said Loki. "I suspect your friend the shape shifter will have a vastly different experience from what you perceived." He glanced over at the big glass statue, waiting patiently to the side. "For now, however, we must set the topic aside and return to the scheduled entertainment."

As he had done at the beginning, Loki rested his palm on the table and spread his fingers, and once again the projection of Yggdrasil, weaving through the space between galaxies, appeared before them. "We'll use the simpler representation of the Bifrost, a tunnel through space, to illustrate what happened when I tried to end my life."

Thor still flinched a little, every time Loki said that; Loki noticed out of the corner of his eye and rested his free hand on Thor's arm. Then he made a little twitch with his fingers, and an arc appeared that curved between the topmost glowing orb in the tree, and another one farther down.

Loki looked at the image for a second, then heaved a deep sigh. "When Thor and I fought, the Bifrost was open. There was already a tunnel created, between here and Jotunheim. You may recall that earlier I said that the Bifrost must remain anchored or its motion cannot be controlled?" Nods all around. "When Thor destroyed the Bifrost, this tunnel still existed, but it was no longer anchored. It began to collapse, yes, but also to do… something like this."

He lifted one finger off the table, and the arc began to whip wildly, like a fire hose that didn't have anyone holding onto it. The end nearest the top began to fall downward, while the far end flailed through space.

"I fell into that," said Loki, and Thor swallowed heavily, like he was about to be sick. Even Odin looked a little uncomfortable. "I ought to have died immediately, yet somehow I did not. I can only assume the Norns were involved in that."

"Where did you land?" asked Natasha, and Loki took another deep breath.

"I didn't." To their skeptical looks, he gave a little scoff, and said, "Oh, please, surely at least one of you must recognize the _odds_ of that tunnel finding a habitable world and latching onto it."

"Well, yeah, except if you didn't land on a planet then you were floating in hard vacuum," said Bruce, "and I can't help but notice that you're still alive."

Loki's lip quirked. "Your conclusion is correct," he said, "and I can only surmise that my seidr must have acted without my conscious volition, in my desperation, and done _something_ which allowed me to survive. I could barely breathe, but I never truly suffocated. It was cold beyond anything I have ever experienced, yet I never quite froze. I could hear and see nothing, and fell endlessly… I have no idea whether it was for seconds or months. I have a suspicion that, as the Bifrost is a distortion of space, it distorted the passage of time as well, and I was… trapped within that distortion. Perhaps I was only in that state for a few seconds, and survived thusly, but what I perceived felt far, far longer."

He swallowed once, and let the image wink out as he reached for the bottle of liquor, but Thor grabbed his wrist. "I speak from experience, brother," he said, "when I tell you that a little drink will soothe painful memories, but too much will make them haunt you."

"Perhaps I should place myself under an enchantment, then, to find some other way to relate all this while not having to care." Loki swallowed again, and Tony thought he looked a little paler than usual.

"You can stop if you—"

"No. No, I cannot. If I stop I will never resume, whether the Norns demand it of me or no."

Thor looked upset, but his only response was to scoot closer to Loki so that they were pressed together from shoulder to hip, and to drape his arm over his brother's shoulders. Loki shut his eyes briefly, then continued, far too sober for someone who'd drunk as much as Tony had watched him put away.

"I fell," he said quietly, "and even though my heart was full of shame and despair, even though I had truly intended to die and had not yet succeeded, there was some part of me that wanted to survive. So I reached out with my… with my gift, and to my relief I was able to sky walk, even in that lightless void. I stepped, or fell, or crawled, out of the emptiness and onto a branch of the World Tree… only to discover, to my shock, that it was not the World Tree I knew."

"How could you tell?" asked Bruce.

"Yggdrasil, as I perceive it, is gold and life, and has a… a certain song to it, one might say. It feels warm to me," he said. "Whereas this was cold, and metallic like tarnished silver; its music was dissonant to my ears. It… there was a flow of life there, but it was not the life of which I had always been part. Something like catching a fish and tossing it onto dry land. There is nothing wrong with dry land, it's a perfectly hospitable environment for any creature that is adapted to it, but the fish _isn't_. I…" he swallowed again, and his voice was hollow when he spoke again. "I suffered." His hands twitched on the table, and he forced a little more strength into his voice. "Purely academically, I believe that given time I may have been able to adjust, to draw seidr from that tree as I do Yggdrasil, but at that time…" He broke off, looking at his hands. "I suffered."

"In truth, guardian, you had already begun to adapt," said She. "It has made you, as a seidmadr, even stronger than you were before your fall."

"Has it?" asked Loki, seemingly disinterested.

"You have not yet had opportunity to explore the limits of your abilities," said the Norns. Tony blinked, because… everything they'd gone through in New York, the way he'd just basically _walked_ some impossible number of light-years, that wasn't even a stretch for the guy? Good _god_ he wanted to get Loki into a lab at some point. "Were you to return to that Tree of your own will, uninjured and not under duress, we think you would find yourself more comfortable than you may now expect."

Loki gave a little nod, and a little shrug. "In any case," he said, "the branches of a World Tree are meant to be traveled, but they are not a place to live, nor even to camp. They are not truly a place at all. I had no choice but to follow my path inward, using my personal reserves of seidr to survive, since I could not replenish myself from a Tree filled with such foreign energy. I groped my way as best I could to a branch that hinted at land, and air, and… and _habitat_. I—" Loki stopped, a little frown creasing his brow. "No one has asked me to articulate what sky walking is, before now, and I find that I am having difficulty finding the right words. I sought a place where I would be able to survive, and followed the, the _feel_ of the branches until I found one."

His lips thinned for a second, and he seemed to lean a little harder into Thor's side. "It would have been better, had I not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. At the time I first wrote this, I had been on a curry binge for nearly a month. I can tell you that Thai curried fish is really tasty.
> 
> 2\. Bergen's Bagels is an actual place, I looked them up. They're listed in some places as one of the top ten bagel places in all of New York City. The dill cream cheese is a thing that they do.
> 
> 3\. Ban Mi is also a real place, population roughly 3500 accoridng to Wikipedia, which I looked up because I needed a place for Loki to get his curry. The little old lady is fictional, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone like her existed.
> 
> 4\. Natasha's Russian translates as "My God, you braggart" because that was the closest Google Translate could get me to "showoff".
> 
> 5\. I love all your reviews, follows, kudoses (is that a word?) and good vibrations.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn Loki went through a difficult time.

Thor looked upset at that statement, as he always did when his kid brother talked about being better off dead, no surprise. He squeezed Loki's shoulders, but the other man seemed not to notice.

Loki had begun to fidget with his hands, the fingers tangling and untangling, and when he realized it he drew his hands into his lap where he wouldn't be able to give himself away. "When I finally came out of the branches and onto that world, I was… unwell. Damaged. The foreign energies of that World Tree, the travel through a collapsing Bifrost… I was _not right_." He huffed a sorrowful little laugh. "Such an understated euphemism, but it is the only way to describe it. Things were _wrong_ within me—altered, misshapen, _strange_ —in both my body and my mind." He shook his head a little. "It did not help that my emotional state had gone from madness to despair to terror and panic in such a relatively short span of time. I was barely aware or capable of conscious thought by the time I crawled out of the branches of that Tree and onto solid, real ground."

Tony grimaced at the thought; across from him, Widow was nodding as if Loki's description made perfect sense. Well, but she had been the only human to go sky walking with him, and she'd said it was weird. Tony could see how maybe something like that could turn into a total mindfuck under the wrong circumstances.

"How likely is that to be the truth?" Bruce asked Odin, looking uncomfortable. Loki sent an annoyed look his way, but said nothing.

"We believed Loki to have died in the collapse of the energies that powered the Bifrost," said Odin. "That he lived at all was a miracle. To be damaged in such a way is entirely plausible. In fact, I would be far more suspicious of the veracity of Loki's tale if he were to claim that the journey left him unscathed."

"Your wholehearted support is so _gratifying_ , All-Father."

Bruce nodded, and turned back to Loki. "Look, sorry if this offends you. At this point you're not in Asgard anymore, and there, uh, there isn't anyone to corroborate your story."

Loki seemed to concede the point with a tired little nod. The whole bit where nobody ever believed him probably got old, Tony figured, although, seriously, the guy had to about expect that from this audience.

"Nobody but the Norns," Tony said, and Loki paused, halfway to speaking again, to blink at him bemusedly.

"I was found, by the inhabitants of that world," he went on, as if the little interruption hadn't occurred; "they were… not unkind, at least not from what little I can remember of them. But you recall how I described the Nine Realms to you, interconnected by the energies of Yggdrasil so that all our alien species are remarkably similar?" He glanced up at them, taking in their expressions. "There was no such similarity to protect me there. We could not communicate, even when I was capable of it. I could only ingest water; all other attempts at sustenance were useless at best, poisonous at worst. I might have been able to heal, they might have been able eventually to discover how best to provide me with care, but…" He trailed off, and Tony was close enough to see the fine tremor that rippled through him.

Thor, still being squished up against him, naturally noticed it too. "What happened, brother?" he asked softly.

Loki took several breaths before answering. "That world, as it turned out, was under the dominion of… I called him the Other. The, the creature whose image the Three Sisters showed you, in the throne room. The one who they claim is dead, now." He swallowed heavily. "That world, the inhabitants, were mostly left in peace, but if something unusual happened, it was certain to be reported to local officials, who would report it to their superiors and so on, and eventually the news would catch the attention of more powerful beings, not so harmless beings. The sudden appearance of an unknown creature such as myself certainly qualified as _unusual._ "

He took another breath, harsh enough that everyone at the table heard it, and noticed how it shook on the inhale. "I was eventually transported away from where those people first found me, and brought before the Other, who… recognized something in my form, perhaps, something like, like having five fingers instead of six; I know not, but there was something that helped the Other realize I dwelt in the Tree from which the Titan had been banished. I only know that the Other determined that I might be of _value_ to them, and he brought me before his master. The Titan." Loki's face was a sickly gray as he added, "Between the two of them, they… managed to subdue me, to render me… susceptible to them."

And oh-ho boy, if Loki wasn't leaving a hell of a lot of out of his story with that understatement, Tony would eat his suit.

"Subdued how?" asked Steve, and his voice even carried a hint of concern, but Loki didn't seem to hear it.

"I am not giving you that," he said, looking up. "The Norns themselves may strike me down if they wish, but I am _not_ giving you that." Another shaky breath seemed to help calm him down, a little, maybe. "I was barely coherent at the time, in any case," he said. "What was—what was done to me then would not succeed now."

Tony wondered just whom the guy was trying to convince.

Sweat began to bead at Loki's temples, and Tony heard his feet shuffle under the table. "The Titan looked upon the Other's offering, and was pleased," he said hoarsely. "Half-mad; half-starved, by that point; crippled—bound. H-he was _pleased,_ because after I was powerless, he was able to look within my mind and discover precisely whence I had come… and what I could do."

"Sorcery?" asked Thor.

"Sky walking," answered Natasha, and Loki _flinched._

Yep, Tony thought. Called it.

"How was Thanos able to look within your mind?" asked Odin. For once, he didn't sound accusatory or disbelieving. "This was not a skill he was known to possess, when he was cast out of the Nine."

"Until quite recently he had custody of the Mind Gem," said Loki, and this time Thor was the one to jolt, his eyes wide as he stared at Loki.

"The scepter."

"Yes," whispered Loki.

"He—he used the scepter on you, brother?" Thor looked fretful, and Tony could figure why. If Loki was being controlled, then he was technically innocent, the same way they'd all worked to reassure Barton that he wasn't responsible either. "You were under his control, when you came to Midgard?"

Oh, hey, there was Clint's laser glare of absolute loathing.

"Not in the way you mean," said Loki. "Not at all like what I did to Agent Barton."

"I should fucking hope not," Clint spat the words at him. "You don't get to claim you're any kind of victim after what you did to me."

"Yes, because it's all so cut-and-dried in the world of _spies and assassins_ ," spat Loki, no longer looking quite so traumatized. "All the heroes are saints, and the villains are the purest evil, and never do they walk any common ground in between." He leaned forward, eyes locked on Hawkeye's like some kind of predator. "Do you have any idea what it is like to be _unmade_ , Agent Barton?"

Huh. Both he and Natasha sat up straight and looked shocked.

"Yeah," said Hawkeye. "Thanks to you."

"Oh, _no_ ," said Loki, beginning to smile manically in a way far, _far_ too reminiscent of the caged lunatic he'd been on the Helicarrier. "No, I did nothing of the _kind_ to you, Agent Barton. Not even _close._ "

"Yeah, you know, I don't really give a good _goddamn_ how _you_ define the—"

"Do your friends still recognize you, Agent Barton?" asked Loki, in a voice like silk. "Your colleagues, those whom you trust, who know you well. Do they look upon you and see a man drastically changed from who you were before we crossed paths? Or are you still Clinton Francis Barton to them? Agent, sniper, Hawkeye. Do they still recognize you?"

Barton said nothing, lips pressed together, nostrils flared, eyes wide with fear and hate.

"I barely _touched_ you with the scepter's power," said Loki, his predator's gaze unwavering, "and that was a deliberate choice on my part. Your fundamental personality was left unchanged. Your skills, your interests, your ability to plan and execute an operation… I did nothing to you except alter your loyalties. When you were released from the scepter's control, that single alteration was able to snap back to its original position. You are now as you have always been, because _I_ made certain such a recovery would be _possible_." He leaned farther forward, his hands gripping the edge of the table like talons, as he bared his teeth. "You know _nothing_ of what it is to be unmade!"

"Don't you dare take fucking _credit_ for me breaking out of your voodoo _bullshit_ —"

"Did you know," said Loki in a deadly quiet voice that belied the way he'd begun to quiver again, "that the two most primal, most fundamental emotions are fear and desire?" He drew back a little, looked around the table and met their eyes, one by one. "Aversion, or attraction; toward, or away; fear and desire are the impulses that drive every living being. Even the simplest life forms will move _toward_ food and _away_ from danger. Even the simplest life forms, therefore, have a _mind_ , however rudimentary it may be _._ And the Mind Gem, in the hands of the Titan, can reach those fundamental drives, and _rearrange_ them at will."

For much of Loki's story so far, he'd looked at nobody in particular, especially while he was going over the difficult parts. If he was irritated, or if someone asked him a question, he'd look at them directly, but then he'd go back to staring into space, or at the table, or at his hands. Now, though, he refused to look away, nor to let them do the same. He was shaking and sweating, and seemed unaware of both, but he would not let them look away.

"The Titan used the scepter, while I was powerless, to see into my thoughts, to _pick_ through my memories like a ravening scavenger. He learned… _everything,"_ he said with a shudder. "Most pleasing to him was the realization that I not only came from the World Tree from which he'd been cast out, but that I could, theoretically at least, travel back there under my own power. No portals," he said, looking at the captain. He turned to Bruce. "No _machines_." And then back to Hawkeye. "How very _useful_ to him such a skill would be."

He looked at Odin next, his eyes holding all the weariness of a man who did not expect to be believed. "Unfortunately, he also discovered that I, as a prince of this realm and briefly its king, have sworn oaths, binding oaths, to protect the Nine. Further, he learned that as a seidmadr I was most powerful _within_ Yggdrasil, and virtually helpless on _his_ world, at his feet." He sat back, finally, taking a long, slow breath. "So he, and the Other, set themselves to the task of…" He stopped, swallowed convulsively.

"Persuading you," Tony said, his voice flattened under the weight of his own memories.

"Reshaping me," Loki corrected, and he and Thor shuddered together; Loki's skin was a sickly shade, his eyes rimmed with red. "However valuable I might be, I was not much _use_ to him in my damaged state; and should I somehow manage to heal, I would no doubt try to defy him. So he used the Mind Gem. Painstakingly, with precision… _over and over_ again. Fear, and desire…"

He looked at Thor briefly, turning his head as little as possible, as if he didn't want to be thought of as a weakling for needing his brother to lean on. Meanwhile his brother looked like he could barely keep it together enough to support Loki like he wanted to. "The Titan took the sum total of my mind— _my_ fears and desires, _my_ interests, my likes and dislikes, long-held loves and hatreds—and broke those components apart like a Midgarder _jigsaw puzzle_ , filing the edges off the pieces and rearranging them in a manner more pleasing to him; putting them back together to create an entirely new personality. And then the Other would test that personality, to see if it was useful to his master, torment it to see how it would respond… and when they were satisfied that they understood that, that _configuration_ completely, then the Titan would break it apart, and begin anew.

"Do your friends still recognize you, Agent Barton? By the time I came to your world, my own _family_ did not recognize me. You have not the _faintest idea_ of what it means to be unmade."

Tony was feeling a little sick to his stomach. Even during the worst of Afghanistan, he'd still been himself; scared, yes, and yes, he'd broken, proven himself trainable through fear and pain, but he'd still been _Tony_. When he came home, traumatized and transformed, he'd still been himself. Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, they all still recognized him.

But Loki, under the Titan's control? How much of him was even still _Loki_ , the Loki that Thor and his family all knew?

"I lost _count_ of how many different people I became," rasped Loki. "I know at one time I was as a child, desperate and weeping for my mother; I remember another personality who abhorred seidr, rejected it and was disgusted that it flowed through my veins. There was a time when I hated Thor, and another when I was so indifferent to him, both like and dislike so thoroughly annulled, that all my centuries of memories were meaningless to me, and he was of no more importance to me than a complete stranger. Then there was the persona wherein my brotherly love for him was twisted until I _lusted_ for him, like a wanton minx." His eyes slid shut at that, and his face flushed red with shame. Thor, sitting pressed up against his side, looked positively ill.

"Again, and again, I was remade, tortured into submission, and then taken apart… One version of me was terrified of literally everything, pissing myself at the sound of my own voice. The potential combinations of traits were virtually limitless, and it seemed as though the Titan explored them all. Destroyed them, then broke the pieces apart, and started again. And the worst…" A tear slid out from under his closed lids and dripped down. "The worst was that in the act of re-breaking me each time, there was always a moment in which I remembered who I _truly_ was. And in that moment I would _feel_ myself being destroyed, and I would _know_ that it had happened before, and would know myself to be _utterly_ powerless to stop it."

He opened his eyes again, shaking and hoarse, and stared Barton down. "They did not recognize _me, Hawkeye,_ not the way your friends do you. I was entirely _unfamiliar_ to them—unfamiliar to _myself_ —entirely out of character, and not one of them even thought to wonder _why!"_

Tony had been so focused on Loki's story he hadn't paid enough attention to how it had to be affecting his big brother. Which was a mistake, because everyone in the room jumped, even Odin, when Thor came roaring to his feet. Like, literally roaring; there weren't any words that Tony could make out, just a seriously pissed-off thunder god bellowing like a bull about to charge. He stomped his way out onto the balcony, and Tony got a glimpse of a sky that was no longer sunny before a blinding flash of lightning dazzled him. The crack of thunder was immediate, so close by that it shook the room and damn near made Tony's ears ring. Wind howled in from the balcony, nearly putting out the fire in the center of the room, and as Thor roared again the rain began to come down in _sheets_. Blowing _sideways_.

Clint was hoisting Bruce to his feet and looking like he was going to head for a tornado shelter or something, while Bruce was doing his best to shake him off. Tony's science bro looked surprised but not actually distressed enough to bring out Green and Mean. So there was that, at least.

Steve had to shout to be heard over the wind and rain. "Is there anything we should do?"

Odin shook his head. "Only wait. He will not harm us."

"You sure about that?" yelled Barton, and as another stroke of lightning hit so close it made their hair stand on end, Tony had to agree. After a couple years' worth of battles, they all had thought they'd seen the limits of Surfer Dude's temper. This, however, was a whole other kettle of fish. Tony reached for his helmet, where he'd left it sitting and recording on the table.

Thor was leaning on the balcony rail now, arms spread wide, shoulders heaving; his grip looked like he'd be able to tear apart the stone with his bare hands. There was another strobe-light flash, another crash of thunder like the sky was ripping apart, as his cloak billowed in the gale, and he screamed his rage to the sky.

Then he turned, and stalked back into the room, and Tony _distinctly_ heard Loki say, in a little singsong, "Oh, shit…"

Thor's teeth were bared in a seriously terrifying grimace, and as he hauled Loki out of his seat and clear off the floor by the lapels of his coat, there was actual plasma arcing and snapping and crawling up his arms from his clenched fists. The man's eyes—okay, no, fine, the _god's_ eyes—were glowing an eerie white.

Loki looked into the face of all that rage and only seemed a little _nervous._ His hands were clutching at Thor's wrists, and some of the stray electricity _had_ to be zapping him too, based on the way the muscles in his arms and face kept twitching and his hair was standing out in a static cloud; but he kept his breathing more or less steady from what Tony could see, and his eyes were only a little wider than usual.

"Swear to me," growled the Lord of Storms, " _swear_ to me that you are not lying."

"I speak the truth," Loki replied quickly, his voice hitching as lightning arced between his chest and Thor's. "I swear it. I swear, brother. I'm sorry. I'm sor—"

"You're _sorry?_ " Thor seemed to explode, and Tony could see the moment when Loki decided he was about to take a pounding, the way his throat worked to swallow but his eyes just looked _resigned,_ like this was a scene they'd played out hundreds of times before.

Only that wasn't what happened.

" _You're_ sorry?! The Titan and his _beasts_ _tortured_ you beyond the point of _sanity_ and you survived it, and we didn't even _see_ it—and _you're_ the one who thinks to apologize? You were imprisoned like a common thief—" He set Loki down, more or less carefully, meaning Loki only stumbled back a pace instead of landing on his ass or getting thrown across the room. Thor whirled to face his father as another gust of wind blew into the room. "Tell me you knew of this," he demanded. " _Tell me you knew he suffered!"_

"And what would you have me say, hm?" Odin sounded like he was tolerating a kid throwing a tantrum, Jesus. "If I tell you I knew, you will demand to know why I imprisoned him. If I tell you I didn't—"

" _Answer my question, old man!"_ and, oh, hey, the far end of the table just exploded. Bruce was already headed to the exit, Steve covering the others, while Tony ducked, and powered up the suit's EMP dampeners.

"He did not," said the Norns, in what was possibly the worst timing for getting involved in a family fight _ever_. Tony got hold of Loki's arm and tried to pull him toward the door, but Loki just shook him off with a glare.

"Did you even think to ask?" Thor demanded.

"There was no reason to believe—"

_"Did you ask!"_

Odin drew himself up to his full height. "No."

With another guttural roar, Thor pulled his fist back, as if he were going to punch the old guy from fifteen feet away. Light gathered around him in a blue-white nimbus of energy; he swung—

In the blinding light, Tony caught just the barest silhouette of Loki, leaping forward to collide with his brother's outstretched fist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter feels slightly off to me; Loki was just sort of droning on and things felt flat until it occurred to me that Thor and the others would have a reaction. But reading it now it still feels like Thor's response is out of left field. I dunno. Thoughts?


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki is a badass.

The blast of lightning from Thor's fist absolutely shredded the air, the sound too harsh to even be _called_ thunder. The light was so bright that the filters in Tony's suit were pushed to their limits, leaving him in total blackness for a second, and he _still_ had afterimages making him blink and his eyes water.

When his vision cleared, the first thing he saw was Loki, who… well, they already _had_ thought he was psycho, so maybe this just fit the profile. He was still on his feet, somehow, despite having dived _toward_ an oncoming lightning strike, and he had squared off against Big Thunder, one hand straining to hold the other man's shooting arm out to the side and the other planted firmly on his chest. Thor's cape, Loki's coat, both billowed in the gale, as their hair whipped about their heads. Arcs of plasma were crawling up Loki's arms; Tony could see his muscles twitching and juddering, and his clothes were starting to freaking _smolder_.

Thor's eyes were still glowing white, sparks glittering between his bared _teeth_ , and Loki was actually holding him _back_. _Successfully._

"Look at m-me—brothe—look— _rrgh!_ " There was a burst of green light, and Thor stumbled back a step. Loki followed him, building up his own glowing cloud, and gripping Thor's jaw in both hands. Tony really wasn't sure if he needed to open fire to keep the guy from killing his own brother.

And then his sensors finally managed to compensate for the wind still whipping through the room, and pick up on Loki's voice.

"Look at me, Thor," he was saying. "Look at me. Look in my eyes. It is I, your brother. Come back… come back to _me._ Let the storm go; you don't need it anymore. Thor. _Thor_. All is well. Look at me."

It took a few seconds, and Tony found himself holding his breath, but damn if the wind didn't die down and the glow start to fade from Thor's eyes. It was still a hellacious storm outside, but the Category Four hurricane was begin to dial back the scary a little, and as the electricity stopped spidering up and down Thor's arms, the green glow around Loki faded too.

Oh. Insulating himself. Okay, cool.

"Look at me, Thor," Loki said again. "Come back. Come back… that's it. All is well."

"Loki?" The big guy was blinking in confusion, and his eyes were back to _not_ -oh-shit-we're-gonna-die blue.

"Let go of the storm, Thor," said Loki.

"I-I didn't…"

"You did." Loki let go of his brother's face and stepped back, taking in the room with a nod. At least it looked like he hadn't actually gotten in the path of the strike, earlier, and had only ( _only_ ) knocked Thor's aim off instead. Water was still blowing in from the balcony, dripping off the rail and slicking the stone floor nearest the arches; the table was drenched, and the fire that had been lit in its center was out; on the opposite side, though the floor was mostly dry, embers and ash smeared across the floor and piled up against the near wall. The cushions were soaked, and tapestries and banners sagged along the walls, heavy with the weight of all the rain they'd absorbed. "You… reacted a bit… strongly," he said carefully, "to the description of my… tribulations."

That seemed to refresh Surfer Dude's memory; his face crumpled and he reached for Loki's shoulders, tears spilling down his cheeks and disappearing into his beard. The wind finally died completely, and the rain gentled to a steady downpour as Thor dropped to his knees, startling Loki, and wrapped his arms around the other man's waist.

The rest of Tony's team came slinking back into the room warily, looking at the two brothers. Thor was kneeling in a puddle surrounded by soaked cushions, his cloak spilling out around him like blood and his face buried in Loki's stomach. Loki, for his part, stood there with his hands up out of the way and his elbows sticking out awkwardly; slightly singed, his hair loose, and with a look on his face that said he really wasn't quite sure what to do next. Odin, the target of all this, still stood, spear in hand, but even he looked shocked for a change (and Tony knew he was having trouble coping when he started coming up with unintentional puns). Whatever; it was nice to know that Lord Unflappable could actually be… flapped.

Tony retracted his helmet and turned to the big glass statue, which hadn't moved this whole entire time and was now just watching with a look of complete calm on Her face. "Why didn't you step in?" he asked. Hopefully he sounded respectful enough not to get killed.

"We do not interfere in the choices of the living if it can be avoided," She said. "Further, we feel that this confrontation was necessary."

"So you knew it was going to happen?" asked Steve.

"We knew it was likely," She replied. "The brothers needed to complete their reconciliation. The guardian needed to see the true measure of Thor's loyalty to him. Odin One-Eye needed to see behavior from both his sons that would contradict his cherished, prideful assumptions. And you mortals, as well, needed to witness the true character of both these men, to see what they each are truly capable of when all their old hurts and quarrels are cast aside."

"Big guy seemed pretty _hurt_ to me," said Barton, nudging the soggy paper bag with his foot.

"Perhaps. But you needed to see that he is much more than merely your friend." She turned back to watch the two space Vikings—okay, Tony was actually almost ready to concede on the "god" thing—with a calm smile on Her face.

Loki had, tentatively, lowered his hands to touch Thor's hair, and his shoulder. "This is… awkward, brother," he was saying quietly. "I am… Truly, what have I said to you about sentiment? You blubber like a, like a maiden at the Vanir opera. This display of yours is completely unnecessary; I am perfectly fine. I would much prefer it if you were to stop drenching the front of my shirt, in any case… Come, cease this weeping. You do yourself a disservice as prince of Asgard. Shall the heir to the throne be seen on his knees before any other person? Volstagg would choke on his… whatever he was gorging on, should he see you like this. I do not jest, brother. What sort of warrior…"

And on and on in that vein. Tony noticed he didn't actually sound upset, or even like he was really trying to scold Thor. To Tony, it sounded a little like the bickering that he and Pepper always used to get into: when you can't say you love someone, nag them till they go crazy instead.

God help him, Tony thought it was cute.

And God help him twice, because he just realized he really, really wasn't seeing Loki as an evil bastard anymore. Insane, possibly still, but also possibly no more of a nutcase than, say, him and Clint. Possibly less crazy than Natasha.

"Thor," Odin spoke up. He looked a little miffed when the big guy didn't respond, although that may have just been his default facial expression, Tony wasn't really sure anymore. " _Thor._ Enough of this. Stand up."

Loki heaved a deep sigh, shoulders rising and falling as he turned—awkwardly, since Thor refused to let him go. "Do you truly care nothing, even for your only son? Tell me, tell me _honestly_ , do you seek to comfort him now, or to chastise him for an unseemly display of emotion?"

"He makes a fool of himself before these mortals."

"Ahh, priorities," Loki smiled. "I must say, this _does_ take me back."

" _And_ he attacked his king."

"And I stopped him. You're welcome."

"I ought to banish you both!"

"Yes, because that worked out so well for you last time." Loki turned his back and hugged Thor's head again, a little less tentatively. "But by all means, do so. Throw out your son for daring not to be your puppet. Exile me again, mere months after telling the public that I was redeemed, that I had died saving Thor's life and avenging the queen. First, of course, you'll have to inform Asgard that I live, before you can inflict your authority on me yet again. Or do you intend to do away with me quietly, instead? Even if you don't inform them, the entire realm will see you as the king who threw away one son, and drove away the other. You will have no one to inherit, and only your pride to keep you company in the last years of your reign and your life."

"After everything you have done, you think you have the right to speak to me in such a fashion?" Odin demanded.

Tony rolled his eyes, but not before he saw Loki do the exact same thing. He turned again, and this time Thor let him go, though Loki kept one hand on Thor's head, and Thor stayed on his knees, sniffling and scrubbing at his face with the back of his hand.

"The point of this _entire_ meeting has been to show you, with the very Norns themselves as witnesses, that you know _nothing_ about what I have done. And after everything _you_ have done, yes, I'd say I have every right to speak to you in such a fashion," Loki said, drawing himself up. "More right than most, in fact, since you seem unwilling to remember, first, that I ruled Asgard and ruled it well during your sleep, and second, that you are only _in_ this chamber on the sufferance of the Three Sisters themselves. In any case, I do not see why you are offended. At least I, unlike you, have never attempted to pretend I felt something other than what is in my heart."

"You have no idea what is in my heart!"

"I have my doubts that you would know any more than I, All-Father," spat Loki. "You cling to your title as if it will comfort you, cling to your damned _pride_ and call it wisdom, and refuse to show anything like grief or care. You hide behind your rank and call it _duty,_ rather than cowardice. Yet, whenever the choice was before you, to be the king or to be a father, whenever it was too _inconvenient_ to be both, you have _always_ chosen king."

"My duty was to Asgard!"

"As I said: duty. To Asgard, and _damn_ what it does to your sons, isn't that right?" Loki shook his head, and there wasn't a trace of insanity or rage in his expression as he went on. "You have lost your power over me, All-Father. I no longer _care_ what you do where I am concerned; as much as I might _wish_ for it, I outgrew the _need_ for your love and approval. But now you think to turn that same indifference on your golden son, simply because he begins finally not to mimic your every thought and action, and I _will not_ permit it."

"I did attack him," said Thor, subdued, as he heaved himself to his feet. "Or I would have, had you not stopped me."

"You were distraught," offered Loki, but Odin interrupted. _Of course_.

"If you care so little for me, I who raised you as a father, then why did you save me?"

"I didn't," Loki shrugged. "I saved my brother, from doing something he would later regret. He does still care for you, though you have done nothing lately to deserve it. I saved Asgard from the civil war that would result if the heir to the throne committed patricide and regicide, and then banished himself to Midgard out of guilt and grief."

"Father," said Thor lowly, "I…" But then he trailed off, looking at Loki miserably.

"You were distraught," he said again. "And, although I suppose I appreciate the gesture, I am not certain I fully understand why."

"Why?" Odin and his baggage were totally forgotten, as Thor looked at Loki like he'd grown a second head. "You are my brother! You were tormented by Thanos, forced to attack Midgard, and none of us who claim to love you even thought to wonder why you were acting so strangely. We _failed_ you, except perhaps for Mother; we have been failing you for _centuries_ and this instance was the very worst. Father had your _life_ in his hands and nearly threw it away, rather than stop to ask… it is as you said before, brother. You do things, or we see things that we think you have done, and not one of us can be bothered to ask _why_ you acted as you did. We leap to our own conclusions, and then blame you for what we decide you have done." He looked about ready to burst into tears again as he took Loki by the shoulders. "I cannot find the words to express to you how very deeply sorry I am. I—I don't deserve your forgiveness, but—"

"Oh, stop," Loki cut him off. "This…" he licked his lips, glancing away, and Tony thought he looked uncomfortable. "Let us have this conversation at another time," he said as he met Thor's eyes again. "I have bared enough of myself before a mortal audience, there is no need for both of us to do so."

"You're, uh, not completely done yet, either," said Bruce. He gave an awkward shrug when they both turned to face him. "We have a lot of the picture, but we still haven't gotten to the part where you, uh, came to Earth."

"Are we gonna stay in here, though?" asked Natasha. She tipped her head meaningfully at the mess, which, yeah, was pretty impressive.

"We could go—" began Thor, but Loki held up a hand.

"No need…" and then he _waved_ his hand in a big sweeping gesture, and the—okay, no, that wasn't even possible. The water began to flow _up_ out of the cushions and things, and down out of the tapestries and such, much faster than gravity should manage. From there, the water on the floor trickled out toward the balcony and off the edge. The fluid dynamics were… dammit, Tony was kind of an expert on fluid dynamics, and fluids just didn't _do_ the stuff that he was seeing right now.

"The stonework I will leave to someone else," Loki said, and Tony somehow, heroically, managed not to gape at him like the village yokel. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing toward the table.

They sat, all of them seriously rattled, and nothing went squish; the cushions were completely dry. At his spot, Loki righted the bottles of liquor that had gotten blown over in the storm, and looked at them wistfully, as if he had sobered up before he was ready and was debating whether or not to fix that problem. He made a tossing motion toward the fire bowl in the center of the table, and it relit with a whoosh of green flame before settling back to normal fire colors. Thor sat beside him, and in an uncharacteristic show of affection, Loki draped one arm across _his_ shoulders, instead of the other way around.

"Now," he sighed. "Where were we?"

"You were tortured. A lot, apparently," said Hawkeye. Well, at least he didn't actually look happy to say it out loud. "With this Mind Gem thing. They tortured you, and according to you they coerced you into coming to Earth."

"Ah. Not exactly," Loki said, and for once he didn't look smug to be correcting someone else. "They tortured _dozens_ of me, as I described, crafting different versions of me by adjusting my various fears and desires as they pleased." Thor tensed again, and Loki moved his hand up to squeeze the back of his brother's neck. "But in the end, no, they did not coerce me to come to Midgard; instead they _created_ a version of me that they did not _need_ to coerce. They created a Loki who despised Asgard, whose terror of the Titan and the Other had been transformed into loyalty, whose love for his family had been transformed into aversion." He paused to swallow, and shut his eyes, and Tony thought back on all the times he had been asked to talk about Afghanistan, and how utterly fucking exhausting it was. "That Loki wanted Midgard to burn, just to spite Thor, and to please the Titan. And they gave that Loki the Mind Gem, and a _fervent_ desire to obtain the Tesseract for his masters, whom he wished nothing more than to please, and told him to use his gift for their _glory_ … and then they sent him forth."

Loki took one shaky breath, and let it out, but on the next inhale, Tony was surprised to see him gather himself back up as if he weren't a broken shell of a man, trapped in the memories of his own trauma. His shoulders dropped as he exhaled, and when he opened his eyes there was… there was a spark there, a fire, that Tony'd be damned if he didn't recognize… also from Afghanistan.

"But the Titan miscalculated."


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a few truths are laid out for people to pick over.

Yep. Tony had totally called it. Now that the family drama was being set aside (again), the sparks should really start to fly, any minute now. He only wished he had popcorn while he watched the reactions on the rest of his teammates' faces.

_But the Titan miscalculated._

See, the Ten Rings had tortured Tony Stark, and birthed Iron Man. Thanos and this lieutenant of his, the Other, had tortured Loki in ways that humanity wasn't even _capable_ of, but Tony knew in his gut, looking at Loki now, that they'd still managed to birth something that would eventually destroy them, too.

So yeah, there was a spark in Loki's eye, and the beginnings of a determined smirk in the corner of his mouth, as he turned and met his brother's heartbroken gaze. "The Titan miscalculated _severely_. He made a mistake, several mistakes, in his hubris, and if the Three Sisters of Yggdrasil have any favor for me at all, those mistakes will bring about his utter destruction, at my hand."

"The Titan cannot be destroyed," said Odin.

"That remains to be seen," said Loki… and the Norns echoed him, which was just eerie. He turned, slowly, to look at their vessel, and his smirk widened.

"You've been trying to convince us you were a victim in all this, implying that you didn't really want to invade Earth. Now you're saying that you—that version of you, anyway—definitely did want to invade. So which is it? What mistakes did Thanos make?" asked Widow, and Loki blinked, pulling himself back onto the topic.

"On a strategic level, he… I believe the phrase in your language is 'put all his eggs in one basket'," said Loki. "On a personal level, he handed the basket to someone who does not appreciate being made to tote and fetch, for anyone."

"Cute," said Tony.

"I try," was the reply. Loki looked around the room thoughtfully. "Strategically, you know that the Titan wishes to die, though he does not think of it in those terms, and wishes to do so in such a way that all of existence would be unmade and unable to be recreated. A final Ragnarök, with no rebirth afterward. Do you also recall how I said that if he were powerful enough to erase the boundary between the realms of the living and the dead, he would literally have the means to rewrite the rules for how space and time function?"

Nods all around, and an especially grim look from Odin.

"You know that I was on Midgard seeking the Tesseract," Loki went on, "but none of you ever were able to plumb the true depths of its power. None of you know what it was really capable of."

"In my day it was a power source for some pretty nasty weaponry," said the captain. "And it didn't like to be touched."

"Opens portals," said Barton.

"You wanted it for Thanos, not for yourself," guessed Widow, and Loki nodded.

"Here, then, was the Titan's first mistake," he said. "He and his lieutenant placed themselves in a position where they needed what only I could give them. The Titan requires the Tesseract to bring himself to Yggdrasil. _I_ do not. _No one_ can do what I do, Agent Romanov. In a matter of minutes, you and I traveled to three separate _planets_ , not even an hour past. There isn't a machine in all the Nine Realms that can do that, save the Bifrost, and it is neither subtle nor as swift as I, not even if the planets were all orbiting the same star. Recall the map of Yggdrasil; you and I traversed _galaxies._ The Titan, for all his age and power, can only dream of such a skill. _That_ is why I was useful to him. That is why I was permitted to live, it is why I was tortured, and it is the sole reason he chose me to come to Midgard, albeit altered in an attempt to ensure my loyalty." He lifted his drink, and one eyebrow. "Indeed, part of his efforts in scavenging through my mind so thoroughly were directed at trying to learn that skill for himself. But those efforts failed. _He_ failed."

Yup, thought Tony with satisfaction. Totally fucking called it.

"I am the Sky Walker," Loki went on, leaning forward in his seat. "Even more so now than ever before. Now that I have learned the techniques for walking in and _surviving_ other World Trees, not even Yggdrasil itself is a boundary to how far I might wish to travel. The Tesseract served as a beacon to help me find my way back to the Nine Realms, and I did use its power to make my journey easier, but beyond that I have no particular need for it. The Titan, however, cannot return to these realms without it. Moreover, the Tesseract, wielded properly, would have been the means by which he obliterated that boundary I mentioned, the one between the living and the dead. One of three items he would require to achieve his ultimate goal, and one which would have facilitated his access to the other two."

Bombshell number one, thought Tony.

"Jesus, and you were just going to give it to him?" said Clint.

"We're getting to that." Loki's eyes glittered with _intense_ satisfaction. "Now, do you also recall when I told Odin that Tha—that the Titan's true goal was the Infinity Gauntlet?"

"We don't know what that is," said Bruce.

"You said 'wielded properly'," said Widow. "Sky walking or not, you still had to build special machinery in order to get the Tesseract to open a portal big enough for the army to come through in the first place. He needs this Gauntlet for something similar?"

"You're very sharp, Agent Romanov," said Loki. "The Tesseract, and the gem in the scepter which I carried, are two of six fantastically powerful objects known as the Infinity Stones. Legend claims that they each have a kind of consciousness of their own, and that they once were united as the… the word doesn't translate to your language… the body-mind-being-essence of one of the Creators of this universe. One of the beings, perhaps _the_ Being, to write the original rules, as it were."

Well, damn. Assuming Loki wasn't exaggerating, this was some heavy stuff. It seemed like every time they turned around, Loki was revealing the existence of something or someone with ridiculous power that could destroy the world, and here Tony had thought nuclear bombs were bad.

"Each Infinity Stone has dominion over a certain aspect of existence," Loki continued: "Mind, as with the scepter; Space, as with the Tesseract; Power, Time, Soul, and Reality. If you recall the recent celestial event called the Convergence, Malekith the Accursed briefly acquired what we call the Aether, which I believe was the Reality Gem. He intended to deploy it during the Convergence so that it would affect all the realms simultaneously. Fortunately for all of us, his vision was limited, and he was too weak to wield the Gem effectively, so he was stopped before he could achieve his aims."

Judging from the look on Thor's face, Tony decided he would have to get the full gossip later. He'd heard about some crazy stuff happening in England, but he'd been a little busy with his house being blown up and fun stuff like that.

"The Infinity Stones are, individually, so powerful that no ordinary living being can utilize them, not even the Titan," said Loki. "You were right, Captain, that the Stones do not like to be touched. Their power overwhelms anyone foolish enough to try, and destroys them. Nevertheless, the Titan knows of the existence of these stones, and knows that they are his best, possibly only, chance to unite himself with his lover, Death. Therefore, long ago, he crafted a device that would allow the six Gems to be joined together and used, more or less safely. That device, as Agent Romanov surmised, is the Infinity Gauntlet."

"I assume he doesn't actually have it," said Bruce.

"It was taken from him while it was yet incomplete, before he was banished from the Nine," Odin spoke up. "And placed in safekeeping with those who could be trusted to guard it, and not be tempted to complete its construction and use it for themselves."

"The Gauntlet is designed with sockets across its back," added Loki, "one to contain each of the Stones, but none of them are filled."

"I suppose that's something," said Steve.

"Do we know who has the Gauntlet?" asked Natasha.

"Yes, and so does the Titan," said Loki. "The Infinity Gauntlet is here, in Asgard's vault."

"Loki!" Odin snapped.

"The Norns wish for me to be a _guardian of Yggdrasil_ , whatever that may mean, and strongly implied that at least some of these mortals would become allies in my task to protect the Nine Realms," he replied, sounding annoyed. "They cannot do that if they do not know the Titan's plans."

Tony leaned back in his seat. "Go ahead, spell it out," he said. "I want to see how much we've already put together."

Loki raised one eyebrow at him, but put his palm on the table again. As his fingers spread, the map reappeared. "Thanos is barred from the Nine Realms. He cannot enter them by any normal means. I, however, have no such restrictions, even without the talent that permits me to roam wheresoever I wish. When I was brought before him, he recognized the magnitude of the opportunity he'd just been handed."

"He can't get the Tesseract, but you can," said Bruce.

"Correct. Even better, with the scepter ensuring my loyalty, he could create a scenario in which nearly all outcomes are favorable. Observe." On the map, a globe at the top of the main trunk, right where the branches began to split apart, began to glow more brightly than the others. "The name 'Midgard' means, literally, 'middle fortress'," he explained. "And like any game of strategy, whoever controls the middle of the board controls the entire progression of play. In this case, Midgard happens to possess or have access to more pathways throughout Yggdrasil than any other realm. It is one reason I am so familiar with your world, compared to Thor and other Aesir. I have been there often, even if only passing through to another destination."

"He takes Earth, he's got a foothold," said Steve. "A platform that lets him strike in any direction he wants."

"Indeed. If the Titan's armies successfully overtake Midgard, he not only has over six _billion_ lives at his disposal, whether to sacrifice to his lover or to use as soldiers in his armies, he also has a wide open path along which to attack Asgard—the 'Aesir fortress'. They are the defenders of the Nine Realms, despite their more recent isolationist tendencies," he quirked an eyebrow at Odin, "and if they fall, the rest of Yggdrasil will be soon to follow."

Thor was looking at him with wide eyes. "Did you say six _billion_ mortals reside there?"

"Closer to seven," said Natasha.

Thor swallowed heavily.

Even Odin looked unnerved as he said, "With so many souls available to sacrifice, he could achieve the momentum you claim he desires, to carry him across the boundary into the realms of the dead."

"He gets access to Yggdrasil, enough party favors to make Death _really_ happy, and a pretty good shot at the Infinity Gauntlet," summarized Tony.

"Yeah, but that's if the armies win," argued Clint. "Which they didn't."

"True, but recall, he ensured my loyalty to him as well, or thought he had," said Loki. "Should I be defeated in battle, I would most likely be returned to Asgard, where he knew from my memories that I could not be kept prisoner for very long, and so long as I was not executed, once I was free I could simply steal both the Gauntlet and the Tesseract, and return them to him."

"Couldn't be kept prisoner?" asked Steve.

Loki tipped his head side to side. "One argument is that I am too useful to Asgard, as witness Thor freeing me to employ my skills during the recent Convergence. Another is that I am perhaps too well-loved, at least by Frigga and Thor; even if I were still imprisoned, eventually Odin would die, Thor would ascend the throne, and if the queen were still alive, she would pressure Thor for my release. A third argument is simply that I am too slippery, and given enough time, could conceivably have escaped on my own." Loki shrugged. "Once out of my cage, it would be child's play to carry out the Titan's commands."

"Can't help but notice a whole lot of you not doing that," said Tony easily.

"As I said, he miscalculated. He is intelligent despite his madness, and ancient, but he is also greedy, and seeing his final goal so close, he moved with more haste than wisdom. After shaping me as he wished, he gave into my keeping the very instrument he had used to ensure my loyalty. He had his reasons, but…" Loki paused, a little half-smile on his face. "I can only assume that either his madness or his haste caused him to overlook the massive flaw in his plan."

"Relying on you?" asked Tony; despite the looks the rest of the Avengers gave him, he'd meant it as a compliment. "Like you said. You're a slippery bastard, and he thought he could contain you."

"Somewhat, yes." Loki's smile widened. "He… altered my mind, broke me apart again and again, and yet, in all his experimentation he never came to know who and what I truly am." Glancing at the bottles of liquor, he conjured two cups and filled each with a tiny measure of the purple liqueur before topping them both off with the mead. He handed one cup to Thor and lifted his own, still with that half-smile.

"And what are you?" Steve asked, skeptically.

"Thor knows," said Loki, taking a sip of his drink. At this, his brother blinked in realization, and began to smile too, looking more devious, mischievous, _sly_ than any of the others would have expected him to be capable of.

"Where I am the storm, Loki is chaos," he said, and there was no mistaking the pride in his voice. "He can neither be contained nor predicted. If forced to move forward along a path he does not like, Loki will step sideways, and forge a new road. If given only two options from which he must choose, Loki will _make_ a third, and choose that instead. Loki's name means 'fire', and one must never forget that fire has no master."

"He never seemed to grasp that," mused Loki. "Perhaps, in seeking, in being _obsessed_ with, the ultimate _order_ which is death, the concept of _chaos_ is beyond him to grasp. Alternately, perhaps he failed not only in understanding me, but in comprehending the true strength of the Mind Gem, when he gave it into my keeping. I know not." He shook his head, the motion looking something like a shrug. "Perhaps the Norns simply like me, or I got lucky. Much of my particular brand of chaos, far more often than I would prefer, does come down to the unforeseen alignment of circumstances in my favor."

"Okay, so, chaos plus Mind Gem equals… what?" asked Tony.

"The Mind Gem is semi-sentient, as I said," replied Loki, "has a kind of consciousness, and had most recently been used upon my mind. I… I almost think it was _lonely._ While I traveled, as I fought to maintain my sanity while walking the branches of a foreign World Tree, the Mind Gem aided me—and in the process, began to _reverse_ the damage that had been done to me. As I mentioned, there was a moment, whenever the Titan began anew on my mind, in which I would remember who I truly was. The Mind Gem set about readjusting my fears and desires to what they were supposed to be."

"You still were a lunatic when you got here… uh, to Earth."

"It was a gradual process," agreed Loki. "But, I think, inevitable. The Loki that those aliens first _met_ , even before I was brought before the Other,was weakened, half-mad. Even though the Other and his master picked through my brain over and over, they still seem never to have realized that the creature they held captive was not at his full strength. Or perhaps they thought that the loss of my power was permanent. They put that Loki on a leash strong enough to hold him, but it was not strong enough to hold _me._ "

"You make it sound as if you're not the same guy," said Barton warily.

"I'm not," said Loki simply. "You see, he sent me forth to explore that World Tree in hopes of finding a place where its branches might cross those of Yggdrasil, some place where I as the Sky Walker might simply _step_ from one to the other, and seek the Tesseract thence. In doing so, he gave me _time;_ time to recover from his torments, time to think, time to rebel. And throughout that entire time, the Mind Gem worked within me. Once I did step across into Yggdrasil, the rush of familiar seidr into my veins filled me with my old strength, and the Mind Gem used that as well, to hasten the process. You are correct that I was not fully recovered when you and I first met. I was, however, altered enough to no longer wish for the abject destruction of Midgard. The process ought to have been less quick, and far more painful, but for one thing."

And what's that?" asked Steve.

"I am _Loki_." He looked at them all, that triumphant smirk on his face again. "Recall what the Norns told you about Loptr, the person I was in an entirely different _cycle._ That name means 'wind' in a very old dialect, just as my name now means 'fire'. I _am_ chaos, as Thor said; chaos, and change, and unpredictability. It is not in my _nature_ to be controlled or contained, nor tamed, nor subjugated for very long." He glanced over at Odin. "No matter how much effort others may have put into doing so."

"You were contained, as you put it, in lawful punishment for the crimes you have committed," said Odin. "Your love of wreaking havoc threatened the Realm Eternal."

"Not so, Bor's son," said the Norns' vessel, surprising them all. Tony had practically forgotten She was still in the room with them. "Part of the reason we permitted you to take him as an infant was because we knew the effect he would have on Asgard, and it was not as a threat. Not in the way you mean."

Loki blinked at them, which, way to derail the guy, bring up something intensely personal that he already had gotten drunk once just so he could talk about it. "I-I don't understand."

"Part of the reason we permitted Odin to find you," She said, "was that the son of Bor followed too closely in his father's steps, who likewise followed too closely in the steps of his father, Buri. What Odin calls the Realm Eternal, we feared might need to be renamed the Realm Stagnant. The Aesir grow more rigid with each passing decade of their very long lives. They needed an infusion of chaos, if they were to be saved from eventual decay."

Odin was looking rebellious, but, well, he'd been alternating between making an effort and being a dick, so, no surprise there. Bruce was the one who spoke up next. "Change happens," he said. "Chaos isn't good or evil, so much as it is a mathematical fact. The only time change and disruptions will stop is with the eventual heat death of the universe. All the energies, all the mass, will be evenly distributed and nothing will be _able_ to happen anymore."

"I rather like that philosophy," smiled Loki.

"You'll probably also like the anthropological and psychological perspectives," said Natasha.

"Ugh, soft sciences," muttered Tony, but she just shot him a look.

"Don't knock it, Tony," said Bruce.

"SHIELD wanted to get a better idea of what they might be up against. If you were to ever come back," Natasha said, cutting off their bicker war before it could start. "In the myths, you're pretty clearly what they call a trickster archetype. Characters like you turn up in a lot of cultures around the world. Not necessarily worshipped, but still respected."

"How _novel_ ," Loki deadpanned, and she shot him the same look she'd just given Tony.

"Tricksters tend to show up in societies that have really rigid cultural rules, gender roles, clear ideas about right and wrong, and so on. They tend to be culture bringers and teachers—a really common myth is the one where they steal fire from the gods and give it to humanity—and sometimes they even create the world. They're known for looking for unorthodox solutions to difficult problems. They also mock and question the gods and the rules at every turn, which from a cultural perspective can remind people of the value of creativity and questioning authority in order to progress as a people." The corner of her mouth turned up in a little smirk. "There are just as many stories, though, where the trickster's games and schemes backfire, where he's solving problems but they were problems he created in the first place, and those stories can serve to remind people that sometimes there's a reason the rules are the way they are in the first place."

Loki almost looked like he was pouting.

"But yeah, those cultures didn't tend to lump everything into _either_ good _or_ evil the way post-Christian civilization does," she said. "Tricksters point out the difference between the sacred and the profane, but also paradoxically remind people that even the profane has its place in the world and is therefore also sacred."

"This is precisely the case," said the Norns. "Asgard may not love Loki, and they often fail to respect him as he deserves, but the fact remains that Asgard needs Loki, and others like him. Your realm holds many souls, Odin One-Eye. They were never meant to all be reflections of your desires alone."

"Okay, chaos boy, you rattled Thanos's cage just by existing," said Tony. "And he was too arrogant to even notice and put you to use the right way, kinda like some other people in the room—"

"Knock it off, Tony," warned Steve.

"He sends you off to fetch him his shiny toy, gives you time to recover from all the damage he did to you, and you wriggle off his leash and make it yours instead. That about right so far?"

Loki looked at him like he wasn't sure whether to be impressed at the summation, or offended that his whole pretty monologue could be shrunk down that far.

"As Agent Barton has noted, the process of recovery was gradual," he said. "But by the time I arrived on your world, I had regained enough of myself to truly hate the Titan, and to wish for his downfall. I no longer wanted to destroy Midgard. I did, at the time, genuinely believe that I could rule there and that I had the right to do so. I believed that with a unified realm, you mortals could cease your perpetual squabbling and make actual progress, not only as a people in general but in mounting a feasible defense against the Titan's eventual arrival."

"So you still wanted to bring the Chitauri here," frowned Steve.

"Oh, no, Captain," said Loki. "Or rather, not to ensure a victory. No, I very much wanted the invasion to fail."

Tony fought a grin as the rest of the room went a little nuts. Boom, he thought. Bombshell number two.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" demanded Clint, but no one answered him.

"Defense," said Steve. "You keep going on about how we're this little backwater. Why wouldn't you want to get Asgard on-side instead?"

Loki nodded, acknowledging the point. "In fact, that is what I did. After all, did not the All-Father send Thor to stop me within days of my arrival?" He turned to Thor, with a little smile on his face. "Really, brother, you ought to have noticed that _something_ was amiss, I concocted an entirely _stupid_ invasion plan and virtually handed you all an _invitation_ to attend."

"Figured you were just cocky," shrugged the captain.

"Theater, as with Laufey's assassination," said Loki. "I had a part to play, and I played it." He smirked again, looking around the room and clearly savoring their expressions. "Otherwise, had I truly wished to invade, I might have stolen a power source, or copied one, moved it to your polar continent, and created an underground stronghold, undetectable by your orbiting surveillance machines."

Oh ho ho, people got quiet and attentive really _quickly_ , all of a sudden.

"I have lived over a thousand years," Loki said calmly, spreading his hands; "there would have been no need to rush the construction of the machine. Materials disappearing quietly, spread over the span of years or decades, would have aroused comparatively little suspicion. Then, still on the polar continent, where atmospheric interference would have made it much more difficult even to detect, I could have opened the portal to its fullest width and brought the entirety of the army through, then sent them into position just beyond your atmosphere, where you could neither see nor move to stop me. Once _everyone_ had arrived, they could have maneuvered to strike at several points simultaneously, all around the globe. By the time the attack was launched, I would have gained all the awareness I needed of your world's military strongholds, population centers, economic powers… You have almost nothing to combat such a maneuver. Your realm would have fallen in mere days."

No one sitting around the table even seemed to be breathing. Loki turned again to face his brother. "Does that not sound like a plan more in keeping with my habitual approach?" he asked. "As opposed to all the posturing and grandstanding, the flowery speeches where I spell out clearly my intent to make enemies of all of you? The public, dare I say flamboyant, method of obtaining access to that meteoric metal so we could finish the machine? Opening a portal so small only one hive queen could come through at a time, over a massive population center that is protected by your planet's most formidable military forces?"

Yep, Tony thought again. Totally called it.

Loki turned back to the rest of the room, then, entirely sober. "And all that was only if I truly desired _war._ To conquer. If I had truly still been loyal to the Titan, I would have done all that I have described, except that instead of attacking your cities, I would have left the armada in orbit and simply had them focus their weaponry on your oceans instead."

Tony got a sick feeling in his stomach.

"Tha—the Titan—prefers that, when he is in a mood to be efficient," said Loki. "Boil your oceans dry, so that all life in the seas will perish; saturate the atmosphere with steam, suffocating or _cooking_ every creature who breathes the air, and that assumes that the increase in atmospheric pressure would not simply crush them to death. Cool the sky once more, afterward, and allowing the rain to fall in a salty deluge that would poison and drown whatever plant life had not already been cooked alongside the animals. It would have taken a bit longer, weeks instead of days, but your planet would still have fallen."


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see how deeply Asgard screwed up with Loki, and Loki offers to spar with the Avengers.

"Jesus," muttered Bruce, and Tony could see that everyone in the room agreed with him. Even Odin.

"My reputation is a tenuous thing," said Loki carefully. "Though you may not believe it, I am loved in some parts of Yggdrasil, if only because I am known to uphold my end of bargains made, and am generous to those who treat with me fairly. I am despised in others, though in my defense I will say that that is more likely to be the case in realms where people have attempted to cheat or threaten me. Regardless, in very few places am I ever simply believed or trusted, or my word simply taken at face value. Even were I not still half-mad upon arrival to your world, the odds were slim that I would have been able to convince your people, or Asgard, of any real threat from a foe who was so far away from the Nine Realms. Therefore, theater was called for."

"You had a role to play and you played it," Natasha quoted him.

He tipped his head in acknowledgement. "As far as you knew, I had nefarious plans which were all thwarted… but from my perspective, I succeeded beyond my initial hopes."

And Tony could totally see it, but then he was the genius, so he was a little pleased when Steve spoke up instead of having to spell it out himself. "You made it back here, to this World Tree I mean, and away from Thanos; you manipulated us into destroying his fleet; and you sent up a flare to draw Asgard's attention to the threat."

"Hell of a flare," Barton added, and Natasha raised an eyebrow in agreement.

"You are correct, Captain. In addition, I returned both myself and the Tesseract to Asgard, where we would be safe and where the strongest defense against the Titan's future attacks could be prepared."

"Nearly everyone at this table mistrusts Loki," said the big glass statue. "Some of you may even despise him, as he described, and we grant that he has brought harm to you and your people. Nevertheless, by his actions Loki successfully barred Thanos, the Titan, from gaining a foothold within Yggdrasil's branches. He kept the Space Gem from falling into Thanos's grasp, and removed the Mind Gem from his keeping."

There was that ring and chime again as Her glass body moved across the room, until She stopped directly behind Loki's spot and rested Her hands on his shoulders. "While a few hundred mortals were killed in the battle, he nevertheless protected the lives of billions more on your world, and trillions more throughout the cosmos, by keeping Thanos from stretching his hand forth to claim the Infinity Gauntlet. And he did all of this without allies, without support, without acknowledgement of his efforts. Do you see, now, why we name him guardian?"

Tony had kind of expected Loki to look vindicated, or smug, or something, but he only looked worn. Then Tony remembered what he'd said before, about having the attentions of the Fates, and how that pretty much meant your free will was toast. Loki shivered as She pulled Her hands back, continuing around toward the balcony. "He is our guardian, for we see what he has done, and guess at what he could do if given the freedom to do so. Meanwhile the man who claims to be his father, Odin Glad-of-War, nearly executed him for so-called crimes against the Nine Realms, refusing to take the time to _look_ at Loki's deeds, nor even to _ask_ his true intentions."

Clint leaned back in his seat and folded his arms, blowing out a long, slow breath. Yeah. Tony could see where he'd need some time to process the whole thing. But at least he was actually processing it, and so were the others.

"Isn't it contradictory that you wanted the invasion to fail, but still wanted to rule the planet?" Natasha asked after a moment. Nice distraction.

"There are other ways to gain power than by conquest," Loki said simply. "My brother would never listen to me before my fall, but I generally follow the philosophy which claims that if you must resort to war to achieve your aims, you have already lost." He shrugged. "Being both long-lived compared to your species, and a diplomat by preference, it would be better by far for me to work behind the scenes, to nudge and _guide_ your planet forward, rather than attempting to bludgeon them into obedience. I would need to develop a political presence if I wished for power more quickly, but I could just as easily establish my scholarly credentials and disseminate ideas through those channels. Or become a merchant, like Stark, and gain power through wealth. Alternately, if I wished for a bit more freedom and privacy, I could simply install myself as a petty warlord somewhere on your neglected continent."

"What, Africa?" Tony raised one eyebrow. He was doing some stuff there with clean water, but politically all the different countries and tribes clashing together made for a complete mess, and he wouldn't be willing to touch that with a ten-foot pole.

"It's not as if the wealthier peoples of your world pay it much attention," said Loki. Well, no, because _ten-foot pole_. "I could use my magic to the benefit of my chosen region, establish something of a comparative utopia where disease and poverty are eradicated, and the people would flock to my leadership."

"There's the megalomaniac we've come to know," said Barton.

Amusement sparked in Loki's eyes. "Perhaps, but I could also craft technology the likes of which your world has not yet seen, and shape my niche into a very _attractive_ power indeed. Attractive, and well-defended. I could pique the world's curiosity by refusing entry to anyone from the wealthier nations, while I and my people grew in strength. Eventually, leaders from the rest of the world would come to me, rather than my having to seek them out." His smile widened. "And that is only the most entertaining approach. If I were in a hurry, I might choose to explore all those routes at once—rule one small region, expanding my territory gradually, but also establish several different personae all around the world, both political and academic, and slip into and out of the various characters as needed."

"And before you ask," said Thor, "yes, my brother is fully capable of exactly that. Although I have not seen him perform in such capacity since… was it Alfheim?"

"It was," he nodded. "The queen and her impostor. That was actually _fun."_ He glanced sidelong at Thor. "Although I wonder that you still call me 'brother' in reference to that scenario, given that I was your sister for at least a year and a half."

A couple people around the table looked incredulous, but Thor was perfectly calm, as if they'd had this discussion a million times. "When you are female you are my sister, but right now you are my brother."

"W—hold on. _Sister?_ "

Tony didn't see who had piped up, because he was too busy looking Loki up and down to see if it was just a crossdressing thing, or what. Or maybe… "You can change into more than just the frozen blue guy, can't you?"

"Yes," said Thor. "Don't," he added to Loki.

" _Seriously?_ " Tony just had to know.

"Chaos is change," Loki said in a little singsong.

"No, you're not hitting on him," said Natasha, and Loki actually snickered.

"Off topic, guys," said Steve, before turning back to Loki. "But we get it. You've established that you could have taken over the world by other means, or at least, you have a couple plausible-sounding outlines if you can really do all those things, and Thor says you can."

"At least you take _his_ word at face value," Loki replied. "Although if you would like proof that I was not trying to win, I would _thoroughly_ enjoy the opportunity to spar with you all, simultaneously, and show you that I most certainly _could_ have won had I chosen to."

So that was how it was gonna be, huh? Tony felt the grin spread across his face and didn't even try to stop it. Meanwhile Bruce's eyebrows went up, Steve's eyebrows went _down_ , Natasha leaned forward in her seat with _clear_ interest on her face, and Clint, the only one smiling along with Tony, leaned back and started popping his knuckles. It wasn't exactly a nice smile.

"Maybe later—"

"I definitely vote for later," put in Barton.

"—but, uh… the point is, thanks, I guess. For trying to protect everybody, in a… really backwards, messed-up sort of way," said Steve. The look Loki gave him was, if Tony had to guess, one of quickly-covered surprise. Maybe he was still under the influence of the heavy purple stuff, or maybe he was just out of practice with hiding his facial expressions since he'd been in prison or whatever.

"You can't tell me you were planning to be brought back to Asgard in chains," said Clint. "What happened after we kicked your ass?"

Loki let the jab slide without comment. "Well, I was planning to be brought back to Asgard, one way or another," he said, with a small shrug. He swirled his drink thoughtfully. "I was healed enough to recognize that I was still badly damaged, and the 'Aesir fortress' would be the safest place for me to recover, and, frankly, to hide from the Titan's vengeance. I was not, however, expecting to be muzzled like a dog, nor for the All-Father to skip any semblance of a trial and jump right to the wrathful sentencing." Loki stared flatly down the table at Odin.

"You didn't get a trial?" Steve leaned forward in his seat, frowning.

Bruce had a bitter look on his face that Tony hated seeing, the one that said he was thinking of his days of being hunted like a monster. "Maybe we're _only mortals_ ," he said, very carefully not looking at Odin, "but where we come from, even the worst criminals get a trial. Otherwise whatever you do to them isn't punishment, it's just revenge. It isn't lawful, it's _malicious_." The twist of his lips increased. "You'd think a father would want to do something to avoid that, with someone he calls his son."

"Once again, Loki bends the truth," Odin replied. Everything about him just screamed _I don't give a fuck because I don't have to,_ like the mere mortals should be thankful he was even _deigning_ to speak to them at all. "He was given a trial. Evidence of his crimes was presented and deliberated, before the Council of Thegns and Elders."

"And yet, I was present for none of it," Loki said smoothly, "I was merely brought to a cell and given a week to heal from the injuries I'd sustained. No one was permitted to speak to me, and I was not allowed to speak in my own defense."

It was like watching somebody nudging a marble sculpture to get it to tip over. "You were too injured to attend."

"Then why was no healer permitted near me? Or the trial not delayed?"

And there was the beginning of Odin's _other_ facial expression. "Because the severity of your crimes demanded an immediate—"

"None of those crimes were committed against Asgard. None of their victims would even have been permitted to come to the _realm_ , much less the trial."

"You caused the deaths of hundreds!"

Loki propped his elbow on the table, chin in hand. "Tell me more about your war with Jotunheim," he said, in mock fascination. "Tell me more about Bor's extermination of the Svartalfar. Or, no—oh, I know! Tell me when you began to _care_ about either the Jotnar _or_ the humans!"

"And _this_ is why you were not permitted to speak!" Odin snapped. "You did not deserve another chance to twist words and spread your poison! Because all know—"

"—that Loki is a liar," he finished the sentence with Odin. "Really, have we not discussed that broad assumption more than once today?"

Odin growled, apparently too pissed off at Loki to register the looks of disgust he was collecting from everyone else in the room. Even Thor looked uncomfortable.

"You know, that's really interesting," Tony piped up. Never let it be said that his timing for an irritating interruption was less than perfect. "Twisting words, huh? In the middle of a trial? Back home we call that 'arguing a defense'. There's a whole career devoted to it, pays really well."

"You insert yourself into matters which are not your con—"

"Yeah, I do that." Oh hey, the king's pissed-off face had layers; Tony just discovered a new one. "And poison? Really, poison? Jeez, you're melodramatic. Whatever, you guys all sound like Shakespeare anyway. But it sounds to me like what you call 'poison' we'd call 'airing your dirty laundry.'"

"Odin Skollvaldr would have his subjects believe that the Realm Eternal is the paragon of civilization," said She. "It would shatter the illusion to have his imperfections revealed, or to be made to face his own errors in judgment."

Seeing Thor's little twitch at the name, Tony leaned over and muttered, "Skollvaldr?"

"It means 'Ruler of Treachery'," he said. Huh.

"There was no trial," said Loki. "I did not attend one, could not speak in my defense, and I am quite certain that no one else spoke on my behalf."

"Your mother pled for your life, ungrateful wretch."

"Ah, but was that at a hearing before the Council, or in the privacy of your chambers? Did you listen to your queen, or merely to a nagging wife?"

"Hold it, hold it, hold it," Clint put up a hand before Odin could work himself up even more. He leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. "Did you at least go through an interrogation?"

"To what end?" asked Thor, and every single human in the room just turned and _looked_ at him. And then in the silence, they all turned to look at Odin.

…Who said nothing.

"Dude." Barton looked at Natasha, and then at Loki, and finally back to Odin. _"Seriously?"_

Natasha was the one who finally took pity on Thor's confused lost-puppy face. "On Earth, it's standard procedure after you bring someone in to interrogate them about their plans. Just because you caught Loki, it doesn't follow that you've stopped everything he put in motion. I mean, you saw that on the helicarrier. We had _him,_ but his people still managed to attack and tear things apart."

 _"Seriously?"_ Barton looked like someone had just made him drag a rookie out into the field for ops training. An especially stupid rookie. "You are seriously, actually telling me none of you thought to ask him what he'd been up to this entire time?" Back and forth again, between Loki and Odin. "You didn't think to find out what his people were capable of, or where they were, or the odds of them coming after him? I mean, best case, if they weren't completely destroyed, he wasn't working with them and they'd come after him in revenge. Worst case, he _was_ working with them and he'd be able to _let them in_ while your back was turned." He was staring at Odin now, incredulous. "I mean, maybe those two things couldn't happen, but did you even consider the _possibility_ that this asshole would have stuff going on that you didn't know about yet?"

"You heard the Three Sisters, did you not?" asked Loki. Again, he seemed maybe a little less smug than usual. "For a thousand years I had been a loyal son of Asgard, a faithful brother, a devoted prince. In three days' time I appeared to go mad, instigate a violent rampage, and then commit suicide; yet upon my apparent return from the dead, not one person thought to ask where I had been all that time. Even were my loyalty so completely discredited, I still had centuries of plotting and scheming as a trickster—of working behind the scenes to protect my brother, to serve Asgard— _centuries_ of being derided for it and living under the reputation that all my actions ought to be regarded as having an ulterior motive, and yet, when I return and act so completely out of character for the person I used to be, _that_ is the time they all leap to take my deeds at face value."

Ah. Not so much "less smug" as disappointed and probably nursing a deep hurt. Not that Tony knew anything about being screwed by his own family or anything.

Loki rubbed at his forehead tiredly. "Perhaps they thought that the discovery I was a Jotun was enough to justify any evil I could commit. Was that your reasoning, All-Father? I could not possibly have secondary motives for anything I did, because Jotnar are not capable of such subtlety?"

"Actually, y'know what, don't answer that," said Tony. "Rhetorical question. You already threw your son away once, you were just pissed he didn't have the decency to stay gone."

"Tony…" Steve and Bruce both, looking less scolding and more worried about him. What, did they think sitting too close to Loki was going to corrupt him? They had Thor between them, it was fine.

"Either that, or it was just the fact that none of you ever _saw_ me clearly enough before I died to be able to recognize me after my return." Loki shook his head tiredly, let his hand drop to the table. "I had hopes that I could warn you all, despite being under the Titan's control. In my playacting, I dropped hints, which the humans could be forgiven for missing since they'd never met me before I first appeared. And still you caught a reasonable share of them."

"A warm light for all mankind?" asked Bruce. Loki nodded.

"Among others, yes. But you, Thor?" He turned, and yep, that was hurt. Bone-tired, aching disappointment. Tony wasn't exactly thrilled to be feeling quite that much sympathy, especially for this guy, but it was right there staring him in the face. "I deliberately said things to directly contradict the very last conversation we'd had together, brother, our final encounter on the Bifrost, and still you missed the hints. I fell from the bridge, let go my grasp on Gungnir, then on Midgard I accused you of flinging me into the abyss. I screamed that day that I had never wanted to rule, and then on Midgard acted as though I was greedily clutching at the kingship. _Neither_ of those comments even seemed to give you pause. You came close—you asked who controlled me—but in the face of your quest to retrieve the Tesseract, you quickly forgot."

"I see now," said Thor quietly. "And I am sorry. You might have been spared much, if I had… if I had known you better. Or been better able to see past my own anger."

"You are the son of the Wrathful One," said the Norns. "It is only to be expected that you would permit your wounded pride to obscure your vision, just as it has Odin Twice-Blind."

"It's not his fault," said Loki. He leaned his shoulder into Thor's side. "We were both prideful, in our way. And I think I've demonstrated that I am just as prone to being led by my emotions as he."

"He is as he was taught, that is true," said She. "But of the two of you, which was actually banished in order that he might learn that lesson, and which has actually learned?"

Thor looked at his hands. "So no one asked you what your true intentions were," he said.

"What about his allies, their strengths, weaknesses, likelihood of trying again in the future?" asked Natasha.

Thor only shook his head. "And after… you were sentenced—"

"What was the sentence, anyway?" asked Tony.

"The All-Father wished to execute me," said Loki, "and said that it was only Mother's intervention that prevented it. Instead I was to be imprisoned for the remainder of my life, and forbidden from receiving visitors. Luckily Mother found a way to circumvent that."

"Um, about that…" Bruce cleared his throat. "How long do your people live?"

"A little over five thousand years, generally," said Loki.

"And you're about a thousand now?"

"Yes."

Bruce took a deep breath, and Tony could see his jaw clenching in a genuinely not-good sort of way. "So… for war crimes, however well-intentioned, and for attacking Earth, with no one realizing your real motive there was to save it, you were going to be put in solitary for the next _four thousand years?_ "

Oh. When you put it that way… oh, shit.

There was a metallic taste in Tony's mouth all of a sudden, and he could practically feel the blood draining from his face. He swallowed, but it didn't help.

Bruce stood. "I need to not be here," he said, eyeing the balcony.

"Thor," said Barton, as he rose to his feet. "Which way."

"If it is calm you wish, simply follow this corridor to the end. There is a—"

"Right, got it. Let's go, big guy."

The two of them shuffled out the door, and both Thor and Steve watched them leave with confusion on their faces. Natasha, Tony could see, looked nearly as sick as he felt.

"I don't understand," said Thor.

"Maybe your species is different, but from what I remember of Loki's mind, I doubt it," said Widow. "We're social creatures. We need interaction. Stimulus. It's an appetite, a proven necessity, the same as the need for food and drink. Without outside stimulus to 'chew on', so to speak, our minds will turn inward and essentially devour themselves. After only a few weeks in solitary confinement, the human brain has measured, demonstrable changes in structure and chemistry. The damage usually becomes permanent, irreversible, after a few months. Maybe the time scale is a little longer for you guys, I don't know. Paranoia, hallucinations, panic attacks, self-harm… I've seen rescued hostages rocking in the corner in their own filth, and gnawing on their own arms… and the look in their eyes—"

"Stop!" said Thor. The look on Steve's face finally matched what Tony was feeling, and likely Natasha too.

"Do you think that if you do not hear it, it will not be true?" asked the Norns' vessel. Tony could hear the chime as Her body shifted. "Your father called him 'son' for a thousand years, then threw him away after one indiscretion, out of _petulance_ that he was no longer of _use_."

"That is not what I did—" started Odin, but by this point pretty much everyone in the room was a thousand percent done with him.

"Be silent, Gallows' God," She snapped, and Tony felt the wave of power She directed at the old man, slamming him back in his seat with a pained grunt. Turning back to Thor, She finished, "He was more interested in appeasing his anger than in justice. More interested in making an example of Loki than of protecting the Nine Realms. He sought to destroy his own son, and to punish his wife for daring to intercede on the guardian's behalf. No trial. No questions. A lifetime for this brilliant mind, with no companionship or conversation."

"No… no," Thor begged, tears welling up one more.

"Accept the truth, Thunderer. Since he could not sentence Loki to death, he sentenced him to madness instead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we are all caught up with my posting progress over on FFnet.
> 
> Credit where it is due: thoughts in this chapter were heavily inspired by Kadorienne's "The Enemy of My Enemy" and "If Thor:TDW Didn't Have Plot Shield", concerning just what a jerk Odin is, and just how horrible Loki's sentence was. The statements about solitary confinement are all actually true, for us real-life humans.
> 
> I'm a little conflicted because I, having not seen TDW, don't actually want to go along with the character assassination that turns Odin and Thor into heartless space Nazis in the name of being "edgy" for a more exciting movie. In prior chapters I have tried to show that Odin can be taught. Eventually. If you can get him to listen. I want him to be someone who does care for both his sons, but that whole thing where Thor lets his temper run away with his brain? Yeah, he inherited that from somebody.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Odin is awful but might have meant well?

"That is not what I did!" snapped Odin. "I protected Asgard from a madman. Protected _him_ from himself." He rubbed at his chest with a little wince, but met the Norns' stare without flinching. "One cannot sentence a man to madness if he is already mad."

" _This_ is your justification?" Thor asked incredulously. "He was damaged and needed our help, and your logic was to decide that since he was already broken you would _probably not make it worse?_ "

The remaining humans in the room all looked at Odin in silence.

"My son—the boy I rescued from death on a frozen world—turned on us while we were not looking," he said. "Allowed Frost Giants into Asgard, more than once, caused the deaths of two guards, and took advantage of his brother's absence to become a tyrant. Attacked loyal servants to the crown. Nearly murdered Thor. Massacred innocents upon Jotunheim. And when the moment came for him to take responsibility for his actions, he instead took his own life, like a coward. We thought him dead, and we mourned his loss."

Thor looked heartbroken for a second, then began to scowl. Loki only looked tired. How long did this shit have to go on before a guy just stopped expecting anything better to come out of his own father's mouth?

"When we learned you were alive and on Midgard, your mother and brother rejoiced," Odin went on. "I knew better than to hope, and I was right not to. You fell into the abyss. What came back no longer resembled the son I had known. What was brought back to Asgard in chains was little more than a beast."

"My God," said Steve, "are you really this heartless?"

"I am a king before I am a father, mortal," was the calm reply. "Loki has that much correct, at least. I have no choice in my duty; it cannot be otherwise. I banished my own heir, when he threatened the realms with war. I cannot afford to be swayed by paternal sentiment."

"I'll bet that always helped your kids sleep at night when they were younger," said Tony. Disgusting, hateful old fart.

"Loki _was_ a madman, by his own admission here! His behavior on Midgard left him unrecognizable as my son. Even his eyes were a different color, which I think I ought to be capable of noticing after raising him for a thousand years. My son had green eyes. The _thing_ that was brought back by Thor had eyes of blue."

Wait, what? Thor and the others all jerked around to stare at Loki, but damn. If they hadn't noticed it before they weren't going to notice it now. And it's not like the humans in the room knew what color his eyes were supposed to be, anyway.

"The change to Clint's eye color was more drastic," said Widow.

"I was not controlled by the scepter in the same way that he was, but I had been altered by it," said Loki. "Nevertheless, I never saw my own eyes during that time, so I have no way of knowing whether any such change took place."

"It was subtle, but I saw it, while you paced your holding cell and raged, baring your teeth and spitting your venom like a cornered viper at any who came too near." Odin shook his head, and for just a second all he looked was tired. "That is why no healer was sent to you. You were too dangerous to approach, so I ordered you to be monitored remotely. The damage to your body was mild enough to be left to heal on its own. The damage to your mind was… difficult to trace. Half our healers were convinced that there was no damage; that you had simply turned to evil of your own volition."

"Way to have faith in the guy," said Tony. "I'm still not over the part where you decided it was okay to sentence a guy to a lifetime in solitary, since as far as you were concerned he was already insane anyway."

"I agree," said Odin coldly. "The more merciful thing to do would have been to execute him. Grant him a warrior's death, as befit a son of Odin. Only two things stayed my hand." And he stopped and glared at Loki, as if surviving long enough to make the All-Father look bad was the worst thing he could have done.

"I suppose you are waiting for me to tearfully beg you to enlighten us as to what inspired such _compassion_ ," said Loki. "You've already said Mother interceded on my behalf."

"That was the first thing, yes," said Odin. "I thought that the worst that would happen would be that she would come to realize there was nothing left of her favorite to salvage. Eventually she would see the truth, and call for a merciful end, as well."

Tony traded a look with Steve, because, Jesus. Odin was willing to be that callous, not just to his sons but to his own wife? He was _expecting_ to sit back and observe from his big gold chair, while a mother watched her child break apart through prolonged mental torture without being _allowed_ to intervene and stop it? And Tony hadn't missed the jealousy in the way he'd said "her favorite", like he was pissed that Frigga had turned her focus away from Odin for even a millisecond to care for her kids instead of his special self.

At this point, even Clint would have to be wondering why Loki hadn't already snapped, like, _ages_ ago.

Odin's mouth worked for a second before he went on. "But it would seem she was right, and I was not. The second thing to save your life was your reaction, in the throne room, when I told you that you would never speak to her again." To Tony's surprise, he took a deep breath, and sat back in his seat a little. "Had you been truly mad, you would not have cared one way or another. Yet I saw the impact those words had on you."

"No doubt it pleased you that you could twist the knife so," sneered Loki.

"No." He held Loki's gaze for a moment, for once not glaring or looking like a colossal asshole; in fact, he looked more tired, and maybe even a little sad, although Tony wasn't sure that _feeling bad_ would really be enough to excuse the full depth of his dickishness. After a moment, Odin turned to the big glass statue where She stood, impassive. "You have cause to look upon me with scorn, for what I did to Jotunheim. For what you say my inaction did to Midgard. For my hypocrisy, if you must, though I am far from the only person in the Nine Realms to have failed in either courage or conviction to match my deeds to my morals. But I swear to you upon my very soul, that is _not_ what I did to my son."

"For too long, I have failed to give Loki the benefit of trust," said Thor, "always demanding of him that he prove his sincerity. For too long I have accepted your word blindly, and he has suffered for it. I think it is time now for your positions to be reversed." He crossed his arms, his expression hard. " _Prove_ that you cared for your son. Prove that you did not wish to lose him. Convince me you cared for us both, for if you do not, then you will lose us both, this very day."

Loki twitched in his seat, giving Thor a wary look. "Asgard still will need a king, after he is gone, brother," he pointed out.

"I will be his heir," Thor replied evenly, "and I will be the prince Asgard needs. But if I must withdraw my love and care from him as he has withdrawn it from you, then I shall."

Loki licked his lips and glanced away, blinking. Tony had gotten a little better at reading his moods while they'd sat here, and he would almost think the guy wasn't sure how to handle having someone take his side so obviously. Which, weird, you'd think he'd have figured out by now that Thor wasn't going to break up with him, or whatever it was that brothers did.

"I had spoken from the throne when I barred you from receiving visits from Frigga," said Odin, "and when I named you Laufeyson, which… I do regret. Regret by itself was not enough to cause me to relent, but that reaction caused me to wonder if perhaps she was right, that you might somehow be brought back—to her, if not to me. That you might not be wholly irredeemable, might be cured of your madness in some way. So I permitted her to visit you incorporeally, and informed her privately that she did not need to continue to try to hide her efforts from me."

"Incorporeally?" Natasha frowned.

"Like this." All the humans jumped a little, because there was suddenly a second Loki in the room, seated at the table next to Tasha in what had been Barton's seat. "It is possible with a bit of concentration, and quiet, to carry on conversations at great distances, if one is sufficiently skilled."

"You did something like this in Stuttgart," said Steve. "With that crowd of people."

"Yes," said stunt-double-Loki.

"Can the extras fight, too?" Nat looked like she was only staying put thanks to iron willpower, but considering how Birdbrain would have reacted, she was the epitome of calm.

Extra-Loki held out his hand and nodded at her to take it. With narrowed eyes, she reached out, but as soon as she touched the double, it evaporated into a gentle swirl of sparks. Original-Loki shrugged. "My mother and I spoke, while I recuperated. We did not embrace."

"She arranged luxuries for you, and reminded me that attempting to strip you of your powers would kill you, but the death would be neither clean nor swift."

"You must have been disappointed," remarked Loki.

"You will believe whatever—" The old man cut himself off and took a breath. It was hard to tell with the beard and everything, but it almost looked like Odin's lip had quirked, the same way Loki's did when he was not-quite-smiling. "You have ever been a challenge to me, boy, when I most need to control my temper, and you are right that it takes… too much time, for that anger to cool. Your mother worked for months to convince me to let go of my fury, and be more father than king to my son. But the burden of the throne cannot simply be set aside."

"You made a public statement and couldn't go back on it. Couldn't be _seen_ to go back on it," Tony guessed. If there was one thing The World-Famous Tony Freaking Stark knew about, it was public image management. He hated it, and generally ignored it, but he still knew about it.

"The All-Father's pride only fuels his rage," said the Norns, "and he has forgotten how to manage sorrow or pain except by transmuting them into anger as well. Worse, he taught his elder son—taught you both, really—to follow in those footsteps."

Loki, who'd looked like he was gearing up for a really good father-son snarkfest, stopped in his tracks. He looked up at Her with the beginnings of a worried frown. "What do you mean?"

Thor looked ashamed, hunching in on himself like a little boy. "I… the Three Sisters said earlier that you could trust I would never betray you, and yet, when you were first imprisoned, I was… I was so angry that you took up so much of our mother's attention. That she would still dote upon you after everything you had done. I remember—sulking, I suppose you would say, there is not really a better term for it—that she provided you with a bed, and books, and visited you regularly. I could not… after everything that happened on Midgard, I could not bear to be in your presence. I wished to give you nothing, not even the basic necessities to which a prisoner is entitled. I refused to come to you, until I had hardened my heart against your betrayal, and thought I could pay you back by using you the way you had manipulated me in your schemes."

Tony thought at first that Loki would be pissed off at this revelation, but he only shook his head and sighed. There was sadness, or resignation maybe, in his voice as he replied. "I know you better than you realize, Thor. And my heart, too, was hardened against further pain. Asgard had already betrayed me once. You cannot be betrayed by those you do not first trust."

"Still. For my part, for my grudge—"

"Don't be ridiculous, Thor, I've spend decades mocking you because you foolishly came back to me, time and again, after every trick I played and every lie I told. It was long past time for you to give up on me."

"That does not comfort me, brother. But I shall reassure myself with the knowledge that at least you were not wholly abandoned."

The two of them fell silent, and looked at each other in silence for long enough that it started to feel a little uncomfortable to watch. Fortunately, Steve had designated himself as the breaker of awkward silences. "Okay, so you had some kind of stimulus to keep from going—uh, _crazier_ —is that the gist of it?"

"The queen made use of her access to me," said Loki. "I was bored, but we conversed regularly; to little outward effect, perhaps, and not much more of an internal one, unfortunately. She mainly tried to make me take responsibility for my actions, but as I was not… wholly repaired, at first, I remained unmoved by her pleas." His eyebrows twitched in a little shrug. "On the other hand, she may have guided me somewhat as my mind put itself to rights from the scepter's damage. Certainly having limited interaction with the rest of the world, but consistent contact with a person who showed genuine regard for me, did not hurt. And then there were the books."

"She controlled your access to information," Natasha realized. Tony thought maybe she looked pleased, one pro recognizing another.

"Indeed." Loki reached forward and refilled his cup, then Thor's. "I was only given three books at a time. If I read them, they would eventually be replaced with new titles. If I did not, they remained. There were important things she wanted me to see, to learn. I resented being _managed_ in such a heavy-handed manner, but there was little else she could do to reach me. As I pulled free of the last of the Titan's alterations to my mind, I recovered more of my natural curiosity. I was still resentful, but with literally _nothing_ else to do, I could not help being receptive."

"What did she want you to learn?"

He blew a long breath out through his nose. "You recall the beginning of my tale, in which Thor and I both were hampered by erroneous beliefs about the Jotnar, and their value as a sentient species within the Nine Realms."

"Heh." Tony hadn't meant to interrupt, but he couldn’t help but chuckle a little. "She schooled you on your racism."

The corner of Loki's mouth quirked up. "In addition to an _objective_ history of the war between Jotunheim and Asgard, I was given books on Midgard philosophy that included discussions of morality and something you call sociology; there were also several studies of Midgard politics, and even a biography of your orator, Martin Luther King the Second. From the royal library in Vanaheim, she brought copies of Jotun ceremonies and ritual songs and chants. Then there were the books on Jotun anatomy, Jotun cultural customs and how they had changed over the centuries, and even two or three volumes—I've no idea where or how she must have obtained them—written by Jotun authors themselves. One was a series of internal histories, chronicles of the Jotun kings and so forth. Another was a collection of educational texts: a child's primer on the intricacies of the Jotun language and calligraphy, a manual on carving gemstones, a beginner's introduction to Jotun magical techniques. I… I admit I was not expecting to be quite as fascinated as I was."

"Hard to see them as a faceless boogeyman once you start seeing them as people," said Steve, and Tony could pretty much hear all of World War II in his words.

Loki looked at him solemnly. "My mother also brought me scholarly interpretations of the ideology that fueled the great war in which you fought, Captain. That tyrant did the opposite, did he not? Select one group of people, and use propaganda to sway public opinion, to make of them a universal scapegoat for the rest of his kingdom's ills?" He held up his cup, and it was almost a salute. "The parallels between the practices of that land and of Asgard were all too clear."

"Asgard practiced genocide before you went after Jotunheim?" asked Natasha.

His lips thinned in annoyance. "There is an enormous statue near the west gate commemorating my adoptive grandfather's victory over the Svartalfar, some five thousand years ago. Until very recently, all Asgard believed their kind to have gone extinct."

"Their leader was mad," said Odin, "flinging the lives of his people away in an endless war he could not hope to win."

"And I suppose that justified the slaughter of all the noncombatants as well, hmm? The ones who could not possibly have been a threat, like the pregnant females and the infants and children?" Loki leveled him a flat look. "The only two differences between what he did and what I attempted were that _I_ did not know any better where he most certainly ought to have, and _he_ was regarded a hero where I was disowned and cast aside to rot. Shelved, you might say, until I might be of further use."

"Malekith killed his people himself!"

"Yet Bor takes the credit for a _mighty victory_."

"Enough, brother. Father." Thor passed a hand across his eyes. "Loki, your quarrel with one another has been long in the making, and will not be resolved here, tonight. Father, I know well that you do not wish to have this conversation in front of representatives from a realm you consider beneath us."

Both of them looked away, and the family resemblance between their irritated faces was actually kinda funny. "So you were in a cell," Tony said. "Your mom tried to get through to you via the prison library system. And then?"

"And then Thor's woman, who studies the stars…"

"Jane Foster."

"Oh hey, I've heard of her."

"…she discovered the Aether, through ill luck and frankly suspicious timing." Loki raised an eyebrow at the big glass statue, who just stood there looking all inscrutable. Also, Tony thought, faintly amused.

"You've mentioned the Aether before," said Natasha. "One of the Infinity Stones?"

Loki nodded. "A celestial event which we call the Convergence had been utilized by Malekith, the king of those dark elves whom Bor fought so long ago, along with the Aether, in an effort to subdue the realms. Give Asgard too many fronts along which to spread their forces. He was defeated, and according to the stories, the Aether was destroyed, along with every last member of his species." He frowned and glanced around the table at them all. "Bor lied. It is impossible to destroy an Infinity Stone. When the Convergence approached again, less than a year ago, the place where Bor had hidden it became accessible once more, and somehow Jane Foster stumbled across its location. It… it _infested_ her, in a manner of speaking. Insinuated itself into her body, yet kept itself from killing her instantaneously. I can only assume that it wished to be used, or transported out of its prison, and so protected its unwilling host."

"This thing about semi-sentient weapons of mass destruction is more than a little creepy," said Tony.

"I agree completely."

"We know a little about what happened next, on our end," said Widow.

"Wait, who's this 'we', kemosabe?"

She tipped her head, acknowledging the point. "SHIELD. Our records showed that Dr. Foster was brought to Asgard to try and get the Aether out of her. She says in her report that Odin didn't take that very well," and gave a sideways glance at the head of the table as if to say, _no surprise there._ "Asgard was attacked by forces trying to get the Aether for themselves, and Thor and Jane teamed up with Loki to get it away from the attackers and possibly destroy it. Jane said you were killed, saving Thor's life, and that you saved her life more than once."

Loki seemed mildly surprised by that. "Always nice to be recognized."

"After that, the report gets very technical, but amounts to fighting, falling through a lot of portals caused by the Convergence, and eventually winning. They got the Aether away and back to Asgard, and then Thor came back to Earth to live."

"So what happened on your end, that we didn't hear?" asked Steve.

Loki's face fell instantly, and he took a deep breath. "The shortest answer: Asgard was complacent, Odin was a fool, and my mother paid the price."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to you all for the kudos and reviews so far! You've made me feel very welcome here on AO3.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which people become upset, and Loki is Not Amused.

Loki sighed, and leaned back in his seat. "Thor will have to tell you more of what happened during the Convergence itself. My perspective as a prisoner was by definition limited. Still, I can offer some educated guesses." He glanced to the Norns' vessel. "Is any of this relevant, Illustrious Ladies, or is my tale done?"

"Continue, guardian. Bring the mortals to the present day, and then your tale will be complete."

He nodded, looking as if he'd expected that response. "Immediately before I fell, Thor broke the Bifrost," he said. "This may seem irrelevant to bring up now, over a year after the fact; however, Asgard has used the combination of Heimdall's all-seeing surveillance and the Bifrost's nearly-instantaneous travel to maintain control over most of the Nine Realms, for thousands of years. They call it 'protection', or 'maintaining the balance' between the Realms. It is really a means of exercising control over their empire, for all Odin's talk of isolationism. He will not involve himself in the governing of a realm, so long as they do not appear to pose a threat to Asgard's might. If they do, well. Odin will send troops to protect the citizenry from themselves."

"Hail Caesar," said Tony.

"In my opinion, with the Bifrost broken, it is likely that many of the Realms sought to throw off the yoke of Asgard's… influence. Once the Bifrost was restored, Odin would have had his hands full putting down rebellions throughout Yggdrasil. While I cannot know definitively that this is what happened, I can say that the cells of the royal prison began to fill with new arrivals from many far-flung lands." He paused for a moment, expression thoughtful. "Hm. Perhaps that explains why you never visited me, brother. Were you and your little friends off having grand adventures without me?"

"I was, if you can call it that." Thor looked grave, nearly angry. "Knowing now what I did not then, I believe Father sought to keep me away from you, and from Mother. The queen argued for leniency in your sentencing. Father would not have wanted me to throw the weight of my opinion behind hers. As future king, he cannot afford to dismiss my desires so readily." He turned away from Loki to stare at Odin. "There was scarcely any rest for me once we both returned from Midgard. I did not sleep in my own bed more often than one night per month. I had no time for visits with Mother, only for meeting with Father to discuss his dispatches and my reports. And at every opportunity, Father, you made a point of reminding me that all these troubles were Loki's fault, that Loki's rebellion had inspired all the other Realms to rebel in turn." His stare hardened into a glare. "You kept me too busy to grieve. Too tired to think. Is that not so?"

"Loki's influence was poisonous to you even before his fall," Odin declaimed. "And I knew you would be too soft-hearted toward him. He must face his punishment without the confidence that you would simply free him to wreak further havoc, and you as king must learn that you cannot simply indulge the whims of those you care about."

"No, merely your own whims whenever you're in a temper." Loki smirked. "Really, Odin, you've been training him so _well_ in that regard, the only inconsistency was when you banished him to Midgard for doing what he and you had _always_ done."

Odin glowered; Thor gave him an annoyed nudge with his elbow but otherwise let it slide. "That may explain why I was not permitted to visit, but it does not explain why you worked so hard to turn me against him. Nor did you ever give me much background information on the battles I faced, other than 'these people are the enemy, go forth and slay them.'"

"Nor would the Chooser of the Slain have provided you such information, even had you thought to ask it," said She. "It would have been wiser of you to ask. There is much of rule you do not yet understand, Thunderer."

"I do know that, Great Ladies," said Thor. He turned back to Loki. "Even so. I believe he meant to turn me against you, and…"

"By the time you came to me, he had largely succeeded?"

Thor looked down at his hands. "Yes," he whispered.

Loki took a slow breath. "I wondered at how easily you could sever yourself from me," he said. "But then later, you returned to our brotherhood as though you had never gone. Now I see it was not you who severed us at all."

"Still, I am sorry. It shames me that I remain as easy to manipulate now as I was before my banishment."

"Not quite so easily as that," said Loki. "You are learning." Tentatively, he reached out and rested his hand on his brother's forearm; Thor relaxed and bumped their shoulders together.

Loki turned to the others. "In any case, that is how much of the year went, after I left Midgard. The queen, working to influence me, and to bring me back into the family; the king, working to influence Thor and to keep us apart. Meanwhile our prisons filled with marauders who were no mere peasants, but elite warriors. If I had been free I might have noticed the pattern before it was too late, but…" He shrugged.

"What pattern?" asked Natasha.

"We were being infiltrated," said Loki simply. "Invaded, and the enemy forces did not even have to fight their way in. They were practically invited, and given comfortable lodgings to wait, all in one place, all nursing their grudges against Asgard, until someone might arrive to lead them. When the Aether stirred from its seclusion, someone came."

"SHIELD reports from Dr. Foster mentioned Malekith," said Natasha. "I take it he was a descendant of the one that King Bor fought?"

"No, he was the same person," said Loki. "It seems the Dark Elves have technology that allowed them to sleep through the millennia until the next Convergence, when they would have the best chance to locate the Aether and try once again to subdue the Nine. When the Aether was brought forth from its hiding place, they were alerted somehow. Malekith sent several of his men and a trusted lieutenant to Asgard, disguised as prisoners."

"They wouldn't have had any weapons, then," said Steve.

"The Three Sisters have called Asgard the Realm Stagnant," Loki replied with a shrug. "Whoever took them captive must have been over-confident once the marauders were defeated, for they were complacent enough that they did not search their captives for concealed weaponry, nor concealed magical devices. Malekith's lieutenant had one such, concealed within his body cavity."

"Ew," said Tony.

"A stab wound," clarified Loki. "He utilized the device and transformed into a legendary being, more monster than warrior, called a Kursed, a near-mindless creature with fanatic loyalty to one master, and overwhelming bloodlust towards anyone who is designated as the enemy. He was strong enough to break himself out of his cell—which means, for comparison, that he surpassed Thor in physical might—and then to do battle with the guards, and free the other prisoners. And he was notified, somehow, to do this at precisely the same time that a fleet of Dark Elves attacked Asgard from the outside, in cloaked ships."

"War on two fronts," said Steve.

"He broke you out of prison?" asked Natasha.

"He did not. Everyone else was freed except me, which… was extremely odd, now that you mention it. At the time, I only thought it amusing. As far as I was concerned, Asgard could get what was coming to them, and no one could blame me for _starting_ a prison riot if I was the only one still in my cell and not rioting." He looked up at the Norns again, soberly. "Was it your influence that caused the Kursed to leave me there?"

"It was."

Loki's face turned red, and his voice dropped. "So it was your influence that caused my mother to be murdered."

"It was not."

He took a harsh breath. "I don't believe you."

"Frigga Fjorgynnsdottir had the gift of foresight, guardian," said She, and Loki's face went from red to pale in an instant. "We revealed to her what her end would be if she stayed where she was, and the alternatives if she fled and lived. She chose to protect Jane Foster and the Aether."

He shot to his feet, fists clenched, but his voice was caught between anger and pleading. "You are saying my mother chose to die!"

The glass statue was implacable. "She chose to safeguard the Nine Realms, as you chose when you encountered Thanos."

Loki spun away from them, his breathing uneven, with a look of pure little-boy heartbreak on his face that Tony really wished he hadn't gotten to see. Thor climbed to his feet and made to put a hand on Loki's shoulder, but Loki stepped out from under it, stiff with tension.

"Brother, I—"

"Don't."

The silence was heavy in the room, and for Tony at least, extremely uncomfortable. He couldn't imagine anyone wanting an audience for this kind of thing; God knew he wouldn't have wanted to discuss, say, Obie in front of a room full of people who had never liked him in the first place. It was so clear that this loss was still way too raw for Loki; Tony found himself looking at Steve as if the captain would have any idea what to do here.

Finally, Loki spoke, still with his back turned to them all. "Sometime after the uprising, a guard came and stood outside my cell until I noticed him, and said only, 'The All-Mother Frigga was killed in the attack.' I refused to let him see how this news affected me." Jesus, was he still going on with his report? Even through this? "Thor did not come. He and his sycophants were there to quell the riot, they stood right outside my cell, so it's not as if they could claim they knew not where to find me to deliver the news themselves. Odin certainly could not be bothered to come. I do not even know whether he deigned to send the guard himself, or if the man, if a complete stranger, simply showed more compassion than _the man who called me his son!"_

He tightened his fists and Tony felt something invisible impact his chest and shove him, armor and all, back in his seat. Natasha and the Cap were both knocked completely over, her sideways and him flat on his back, as the force radiated out from Loki's epicenter. Tony figured it probably wasn't an actual, deliberate attack; the cups on the table went flying, all the bottles on the sideboard shattered, and the floor and pillars themselves shuddered in a mini-earthquake. Tony barely managed to catch his helmet before it hit the floor, flung off the table along with all the other stuff.

Hell, even Thor stumbled back a step, and Tony caught the look of shock on his face before he regained his balance.

Loki took two more heaving breaths before getting himself back under control, which… was almost scarier than when Thor had made with the light show earlier. Anybody else might have thought that his feelings didn't run as deep as Thor's had, but Tony knew better. Tony had learned, deep inside a cave, all about banking your rage and tucking it away where no one would see it, keeping it safe while you fed it steadily, until you finally decided it was time to unleash. And then there was no stopping it until everything _burned_.

Thor? Thor was loud like his namesake, but just like summer thunderstorms, his temper swept through, did a little damage, and then was gone. Finished, and then the birds would come out to sing again and everything would be fine.

Loki? He was more like Tony, so, not so much.

"I was not informed of this until after the funeral had already passed," said Loki quietly. He turned, and the magic in his eyes made them glow like a jaguar's as he stared down the All-Father. " _I will never forgive you for that._ " Another deep breath, and he turned to face the rest of them. "You saw the chains in which I was brought to the throne room. I could have been bound just as easily then, and brought under guard to some isolated chamber to witness the ceremony from a distance, but I was not granted even that small kindness." He turned his head back to Odin again. "I will _never_ forgive you for that, you _hateful_ old man."

Odin said nothing. He was really good at saying nothing very loudly, whenever basic decency would have someone else opening their mouth. Yeah, he'd said a lot about being king, and having to choose that over being a father, but the Norns had said a lot about his pride, and it wasn't like there was much of a conflict between kingship and fatherhood right here.

Still. Even Tony could keep his mouth shut sometimes. He was pretty sure everyone there would regret it if he spoke up now.

Steve, apparently, wouldn't. "Aren't you even sorry?" he asked, incredulously.

"Loki was a prisoner. There are protocols—"

"He was her son." Steve shook his head in disgust. "Even we lowly humans make concessions for things like that, sometimes."

"And that is why you do not rule the Nine Realms."

"Oh please, don't _even_ fall back on that as an excuse. I can speak from experience when I tell you all the wealth and power in the world isn't enough to make you a _better person_ than the rest of the little people." Oops, there went Tony's pledge to keep quiet. "He was her _son._ " He looked Odin up and down and hoped the disgust showed on his face. "I guess the claim that he was ever _yours_ really was just lip service."

"It was most certainly _not_."

"You've got a really fucked-up way of showing it, dickwad." Both Thor and Loki turned to him in absolute shock.

Odin reached for Gungnir and stood, his face as full of rage as Tony had ever seen Thor's. He snarled, "I have tolerated _enough_ disrespect from you insignificant mortals—"

"You'll tolerate as much as the Norns _tell_ you to tolerate, and you'll say _thank you_ when they're done." Tony was on his feet now, gauntlets charging. "You have yet to get it through your thick skull that you're only here, in this room, because they _want_ you to be. Because they want you to _listen_ for once in your goddamn life to the kid you stole and pretended to raise as your son. You _owe_ him, do you not yet actually get that? You may not owe him clemency for his crimes, but you _do_ owehim a moment of your precious time to hear what he has to say. That's the only reason you're here! It's not because you're the king, it's not because you're doing some kind of diplomacy thing with us, it's because _you fucked up_ and the Norns want you to know it. You love to accuse the guy of lying through his teeth, and hey, maybe he does, maybe he did for most of his life. But _everything_ he's saying now is backed up and verified and _vouched for_ by three of the most powerful beings even you can conceive of, my _God_ , this is an informational _goldmine_ , and you're _still_ trying to sit there and _justify_ your shitty treatment that _led_ to all this. Jesus fuck, _get_ the clue, shut the hell up, sit your ass down, and if you can't actually show a little humility see if you can fucking _pretend._ You know. Like you pretended to be a father for the past thousand years."

Odin roared wordlessly, not unlike Thor had earlier, and thrust his spear forward. Tony saw it coming and fired both gauntlets, one at the incoming projectile and one at Odin himself. The noise of the blasts drowned out the shouts of "No!" from Thor, Steve, and Natasha.

All three energy blasts splashed harmlessly against an unseen barrier hanging in midair, which flared green-gold as it absorbed the shots before going invisible again.

Both men turned to Loki, who stood with one hand outstretched. "You are both idiots," he said evenly. "Odin All-Father: to attack an envoy from another Realm is to invite war, and you would do it over nothing more than words exchanged in a private setting, where not even the servants can overhear. Even if Midgard lacks the power to retaliate, their shield brother Thor does not, and you have already tried his temper once today. Moreover, to attack these mortals is to overstep the bounds of your authority, because for once in your life you are not the most powerful entity in the room. Only the Three Sisters themselves have the right to censure these humans for as long as they are all here; and if they choose not to do so, you most certainly may not, and you offer them grave insult by attempting to go against their wishes. Your damnable pride will see you killed or overthrown by the one son you still claim as your own; your frankly _petulant_ behavior, your refusal to bend even an inch to show respect to the humans, is an embarrassment to Asgard. The late queen, a paragon of grace and dignity, would be _ashamed_ of you right now."

Ooh. _Burn_. Tony was impressed, but Loki wasn't done.

"Man of Iron: If you as an individual were to attack the All-Father, the penalty would be your death. If you as an _envoy_ were to attack the All-Father, you would invite war against your entire realm. If you succeeded in killing Odin, Thor would become king and have no choice but to execute you himself. If you did _not_ succeed in killing Odin, you may be certain that he in his wrath would still demand that his son execute you personally. If there is to be war, Thor will be the one to lead Asgard's armies against all the billions of innocents on your world, in a slaughter that will make my invasion look like a childish squabble, and it will be _your fault_. In all possible outcomes, you force Thor to be the instrument of justice against his own shield brothers and against the realm he has sworn to protect. You make him an oathbreaker, the lowest sort of criminal, whether he carries out that justice or defies it, and chooses to defend you instead. Is this how you choose to repay the man who has fought and bled by your side, who took your part even against his own brother?"

Loki looked back and forth between them both; oddly, instead of the temper he'd displayed so far today, now he held an expression of implacable judgment. Regal displeasure. Tony remembered that at the beginning of all this he'd mentioned having ruled the kingdom for a few months while Odin was indisposed.

His Highness Loki was Not Amused.

The worst part was, as much as Tony would have liked to come up with some smartass comeback, he really didn't have a leg to stand on and he knew it. Loki was… god, it just about hurt to say it, but Loki was completely right.

At least Bruce hadn't been the room to see him making an ass of himself. Steve and Natasha both would probably still tear him a new one later, though.

"Sorry," he bit out, speaking to Loki and pointedly not looking at Odin. "I'm usually better about not letting people get under my skin." And, because it seemed politic, he added, "Sorry, Thor."

He could be the bigger man if he had to, sometimes.

Loki nodded. Regally, because of course he did. "I cannot find fault with your motive, but in future remember that you are considered a representative of your realm, and keep your weapons both physical and verbal to yourself." He turned to Odin, keeping his hand outstretched but otherwise looking the picture of royal dignity; he blinked once slowly, raised his eyebrows in inquiry, and waited.

Odin looked like he was ready to choke on his own tongue. His lip kept curling up into a sneer before he forced it back down again, glaring at Loki (and Tony, from what he could see out of the corner of his eye) like he was dogshit on a shoe. Finally he sat down, and with _extreme_ reluctance, he laid the spear across his lap.

He still didn't say anything, because of course not, but Loki smirked and nodded at him like _good boy,_ and that was enough to satisfy Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I truly haven't wanted to make Odin completely despicable, but the only way I can salvage Thor's behavior toward Loki from TDW is if I pin some of it on Odin here. I still want to find some way to mitigate Odin's actions, somehow. Suggestions and ideas welcome.
> 
> I also wanted to get farther in the plot than this, but Tony's my court jester and Greek chorus all in one here, and he had some things that needed to be said, so he said them. I think it managed not to bog things down, and Loki still ends up looking like a badass.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's role in what we humans know as Thor:The Dark World.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something a bit longer for you, to make up for the delay in posting.

A knock on the doorframe broke the tension of the moment. "What did we miss?" Clint and Bruce were standing in the doorway, looking uncertain about whether or not to come back inside.

"We were just getting to the juicy stuff," said Tony, waving them inside.

"My younger son was once again reminding us all of our failures," said Odin stiffly. "And reminding us that it would be wisest to keep our tempers under control."

"Not sure if that means we should come in or stay out," said Bruce uneasily.

"You may as well return. There is little enough to tell," said Loki. "To catch you up: most of a year went by with my mother visiting me in prison and attempting with limited success to make me see the error of my ways. At the same time, Odin sent Thor throughout the Nine Realms to quell various uprisings, keeping him from visiting me or being influenced by the queen, and attempted with somewhat greater success to turn Thor against me. Then, Thor's woman Jane Foster discovered the hiding place of another Infinity Stone known as the Aether, it infected her body, and she was brought to Asgard against the All-Father's wishes in an attempt to remove it before it could kill her. The movement of the Aether awoke an ancient enemy of Asgard, of a species believed to have gone extinct, led by a man named Malekith. Some of their forces infiltrated our realm in the guise of prisoners, broke free of their captivity, and attacked from within while Malekith led an attack from without. My mother the queen was among the casualties that day."

"I, uh. I'm sorry for your loss," said Bruce, as they took their seats. Loki gave a little half-bow in acknowledgement; Tony caught the tightening around his eyes as he carefully avoided revisiting the topic. Out of curiosity, he glanced down the table toward Odin and saw an expression of pure _grief_ flicker across the old man's face, for just a second, before he covered it with the same tightening around his eye that Loki was showing.

Hm. If the guy still wasn't over the loss of his wife—and Tony could kinda relate, if he lost Pepper he would never be the same again—that might explain some of today's assholery. Maybe.

Bruce looked around the room, noting the shattered bottles still dripping liquid onto the floor from the sideboard. "Anything else?"

"Loki got angry and made an earthquake," said Natasha. "Then Tony and Odin tried to kill each other and Loki stopped them."

Bruce blinked.

"Okay. But other than that…" deadpanned Clint.

"No, that's where we are," said Natasha.

Loki picked up the thread. "I learned later that, following the battle, Odin decreed that the best course of action was to keep Jane Foster, and the Aether inside her, in Asgard, regardless of how the lady might feel about imprisonment and regardless of the fact that the Aether was slowly killing her. The Dark Elves had already breached our defenses once, but he believed that somehow Asgard would be able to hold them off when they inevitably returned with an even larger and more determined force."

"Once the mortal was dead, the Aether could be safely contained within the vault," said Odin.

"And your son could be conveniently steered away from his fixation on her," said Loki. "It would be much easier if you were to simply admit that you were willing to sit there and watch Asgard be destroyed, watch Thor's love be destroyed, out of spite for the loss of your own."

"And how well did you rule Asgard, my son, after the foundations of your world came tumbling down, hmm?" Odin leveled a flat look down the table toward Loki. "I will not pretend it was the best decision, in retrospect, but you cannot sit there and claim I am the only king ever to make a poor choice while in the throes of grief and rage, cut to the quick by heartbreak and betrayal."

For a wonder, it was Loki who looked away and said nothing.

"Yes. I admit it," Odin went on. "Though at the time I was not aware that my own grief was influencing my decisions so poorly. The mortal was a hindrance, and expendable. Thor's duty was, and is, to serve Asgard as its king—"

"So why would you do whatever is in your power to make him hate that duty?" Loki stared at his ex-dad in consternation. "Let him take her to his bed if he likes, let him claim he's in love with her; it's not as if your words or mine would ever persuade him not to. So, since he will not listen to us, let him watch her age and wither before his eyes, and when she dies, _then_ let him realize his folly and take an Aesir to wife."

Odin sighed, and glanced at Thor. "I thought to spare you that pain."

But Loki wasn't having any. "It is just _crucially_ important to you to protect Thor from the consequences of his actions, isn't it?" he asked. "You've done it his entire life, and you have yet to see the consequences of your _own_ actions in doing so! Letting him dodge the fallout and walk away cheerful from every disaster, unwitting and uncaring of all he has wrought, is what got you into this mess in the first place. An arrogant, bloodthirsty thug for an heir and an envious, resentful _viper,_ as you put it, for the second in line."

Odin started to speak again, but Loki just waved him off, shook his head, and leaned back in his seat with a sigh. "So. The All-Father was blinded by his prejudice against the mortals, hatred of the Dark Elves, and grief for the loss of his wife; I suppose I cannot entirely blame him for making poor decisions during that time. And who knows? He is old, and has ruled long, and possibly he saw a chance to pass the responsibilities of rule off onto Thor. Perhaps that is why his plan was to keep everyone where he could see them, and sit huddled on his bitter throne and wait for the end to come. Meanwhile Thor did not wish for any of it; not the throne, not a second attack against Asgard, and not the death of his human paramour. Had he not been turned against me, he may have come to me for advice on what to do next, but instead he attempted to devise a strategy of his own to heal his woman and stop Malekith."

"If it is any reassurance, brother, I did attempt to think like you in order to come up with the plan."

Loki winced exaggeratedly. "Ooh, that's… brother, that is painful to contemplate." Thor nudged him sideways, hard, so that he had to catch himself to avoid falling over. As he righted himself, he added, "I'm not at all sure how I feel about the irony, given that your plan included the commission of treason on several counts."

"We were working for the good of Asgard!"

"Yes, so says every revolutionary and usurper to overthrow the established system." Loki sighed. "Although, I suppose technically an argument could be made that you as prince carried _some_ authority to act independently of the crown. Did you order your friends and Heimdall to assist you, and so take the responsibility for their deeds onto your shoulders?"

"They agreed with me that it was necessary…"

"Of course they did. Ever an eager group of conspirators, are they not?"

"Loki…" Thor shook his head and sighed. "You may have a point, where they are concerned. But now is not the time."

Loki's eyebrows lifted in mild surprise.

"So it was Thor who broke you out of prison?" asked Natasha. Good of her to speed things along, Tony thought.

"It was."

"What kind of incentive did he give you to help?" asked Clint. "I mean, from what you've said, these guys could all go fuck themselves, far as you were concerned. Your mom was dead, it wasn't like there was anyone you cared about that would be at risk from another attack." He shrugged, adding, "Well, apart from you."

Loki's mouth twisted wryly. "I was to be given an opportunity at vengeance," he said. "And afterward, assuming I cooperated, assuming I aided in saving the Nine Realms, as reward I would be returned to my cell, there to live out my days."

"Dude, what?" The words slipped out before Tony could stop them, but the reaction was pretty much universal around the table.

"You heard me correctly." Loki dragged a hand through his hair and shifted his weight. "Thor and I were estranged. The All-Father had set him against me, so that he did not visit me in the entire year I was imprisoned, and it did not help that by the time I laid eyes on him again, the very first time since being returned to Asgard, he was as irrational with grief and rage as the rest of us." He waved his hand in tired dismissal. "Of course he would not come to me until he decided he needed my help. I don't know if he wanted me as Odin's stolen relic, pulled off the shelf to be of _use,_ or as the dutiful tagalong, cleaning up his messes once again."

"I did not trust you, then," said Thor.

Loki shook his head. "No, but it still would have been wise to offer me _something_ in return for my efforts, doing something for you that _no one else in Asgard_ is capable of. What if I had refused? As Agent Barton has said, I could just as easily have sat back to watch the realms burn, and let that be my vengeance for Mother's death. _You_ weren't even willing to tell me whether or not she had suffered."

Tony winced, and he was not the only one. Jesus.

"I could have sat there and said no, and there would have been nothing you could do about it. No way out of Asgard, no way to save Jane Foster, no way to stop Malekith from attacking again and again until he got what he wanted."

Thor at least had the good sense to look ashamed now, whether it was for his cruelty toward Loki or his stupidity in managing him. "Brother…"

"Save your breath," said Loki, tired and bitter. "I found out later how she was killed. The skalds recited their threnody for my approval, before adding it to the Royal Archives."

"So what happened instead?" asked Steve. "I mean, not with how she died, that's… that's none of our business. But apparently you didn't refuse. What did happen?"

"Instead of providing me with anything that would make me want to aid him," Loki said, "His Highness informed me that he no longer had any faith that the brother he once knew was still inside me somewhere, and that _when_ I betrayed him, he would not hesitate to kill me. And if I did not betray him, I would be returned to four thousand years of confinement." He turned toward Thor, eyebrow raised. "You do realize that, if I were truly as evil as you claimed, you had created a scenario in which I would have had no other choice but to simply kill you, as soon as possible upon exiting my cell? Your promises meant that my continued survival hinged upon making sure you and your co-conspirators were dead."

"Oh, come, surely you can't—"

"No," said Odin. "He is right. That was poorly managed. You offered him death, to be delivered the instant you decide he has betrayed you, whether he has actually done so or not, and you offered him no incentive not to simply kill you or flee, and leave Asgard to its fate." He studied Loki for a moment, and there was that look on his face again, the one he'd had back when they were examining the poisoned drinking horn. The one that said he was maybe having to reevaluate everything he'd assumed so far about his second son. Ex-son. Whatever the hell he was calling him nowadays. "Why, then, did you not do either of those things?"

"Is it so astonishing to consider that perhaps I am really _not_ as evil as you've made me out to be?" asked Loki, rolling his eyes. "There was the chance I might be the one to truly avenge Mother's murder, if I agreed. And if I refused, there was the chance he would condemn me to inescapable torture in punishment for defying him, or merely return me to my cell. And if by some miracle he still managed to defeat Malekith without me, I would have squandered my only chance at freedom."

He glanced over at the sideboard and at the scattered cups and bottles on the floor, and gave a distracted little frown. "I always was the better strategist, but perhaps if I'd let you make a few mistakes and live with their consequences you would not have been such an idiot."

"Now you're being unfair." Thor looked annoyed, albeit mildly. "You've berated Father long enough, and now it is my turn?"

"No. Odin has made terrible choices all our lives, and ended up with an arrogant fool for his heir, but then he decided to capitalize on your sense of entitlement when he manipulated you against me, and made you an even worse fool as a result. He caused you to backslide from all your supposed growth following your banishment, so that you made some truly stupid decisions; really, you should be thanking the ancestors that even in my resentment I still had enough honor in me to go along with your schemes, despite how stupid they were."

Thor folded his arms and scowled, but his whole attitude said his level of annoyance with his kid brother was familiar territory. "Pray, enlighten me then, since you are apparently so very wise."

"We'll set aside the part where your band of loyal thugs each took turns threatening me with death should I betray you, once again emphasizing how much better it would be for me if I were to simply kill you all and walk away." If Loki wore glasses, he would be looking at Thor over the top of them right now. "No, that wasn't even the best part. The best part was that you recruited me specifically, _explicitly,_ because you needed someone to get you and your woman out of Asgard after Odin forbade you to leave. You absolutely required the services of a sorcerer, and especially of the Sky Walker himself. Yet, what did you do less than five minutes after removing me from my cell, but prevent me from using the very magic you needed me for in the first place?"

"I could not trust you not to betray us in the fight to escape the palace!"

"You utter _moron,_ you dragged me defenseless into a battle that we could have avoided entirely if you hadn't decided to strip me of the very thing you needed from me to begin with!" To Tony's delight, Loki's hand whipped out and smacked Thor on the back of the head. "Did I or did I not _demonstrate_ to you all the disguises I could have thrown over the both of us, so that we could have left the palace _entirely_ unhindered? You know perfectly well that I can render myself invisible. I could just as easily have hidden Jane Foster, left a copy in her room so that no one would realize she was gone, disguised myself as a guard or a servant, and the three of us _walked_ out to a skiff and sailed away! Instead _you,_ towering intellect that you are, decided to steal a Dark Elf ship that you had _no idea_ how to fly—"

"And I told you then—"

"Yes, you told me that, because you are skilled at throwing a _hammer_ into the air and letting it drag you along on its trajectory, that _obviously_ gave you the necessary training to pilot an alien craft whose control systems you had never seen before. Well done. Truly. Your brilliance knows no bounds."

"I was able to make it work!"

" _Eventually_." Loki rolled his eyes again. "And of course since we were in an enemy craft, it then became necessary for us to fight our way free of the palace, right after you had dared to tell _me_ I wasn't allowed to kill anyone to cover our escape. You caused a panic amid the populace once they saw _that_ craft in the air, not to mention all the property damage you inflicted on your beloved realm before you could figure out how to _steer._ " He leveled another flat glare at his brother. "If you hadn't blocked my magic, we could have walked away without a fuss and been gone for hours before anyone even realized. And if you try to tell me that there is no _honor_ in sneaking about, I will be required to ask you how much honor there is in attacking the troops who are _on your side,_ fighting to protect Asgard."

Yeah, Thor got a little red in the face with that one. He didn't answer Loki, but he did clear his throat awkwardly and rest his hands on the table in front of him.

Natasha spoke up. "Thor was able to block your magic?"

"Not in the way you are likely thinking of," said Loki. "To remove my magic entirely would be to kill me. The shackles he put on me— _right before we entered combat_ ," he added, elbowing Thor— "are designed to react to any deliberate movement of seidr and cause pain in response. I could still have utilized my magic had it been necessary, but I preferred to keep my hands."

"You were a traitor and a dangerous criminal!"

Loki smiled, without a drop of sincerity in the expression. "Of course I was, because Papa said so."

Thor growled.

Loki relented with a little shake of his head. "It was stupid, and you know it," he said, "you just don't want to admit it. And it was even stupider, considering that you had and still have absolutely no idea how I find or use the passages between worlds. You've never once bothered to ask me about it, because magic was not a worthy pursuit for the mighty Thor. For all you knew, I would require a half-hour ritual and blood sacrifice to open the ways. So it made no sense whatsoever to not only shackle me, but to set us up for an exciting chase through the city by angry guardsmen and provide me no time whatsoever to prepare the way to open, but that is what you did."

"So how'dja do it?" asked Tony.

"I bypassed the inhibitors on the shackles, endured a little pain, and managed to open the way and still avoid double amputation."

"He's lying," grumbled Thor, "the shackles don't work that way."

"Out of the two of us," said Loki cheerfully, "which one is actually a seidmadr?" Thor glared at him, and Tony got the impression Loki was quoting something that Thor clearly didn't appreciate. "You've certainly never been in chains a day in your life."

"And whose fault was that?"

Loki's expression fell, eyes half shut with disdain. "We've already had that discussion, brother dear."

"All right, all right," said Steve. "So from what you said, you managed to open a way… to where? What happened next?"

Both of the brothers took a deep breath, and Loki dragged a hand across his face. "Thor's idea was to remove the Aether from Asgard, and his thought was that Malekith would follow it rather than mount another attack; the idea was fair enough, so we went to their world. A desolate wasteland, filled with ancient wreckage from the war which destroyed them. Even after five millennia, the remains of their ships still stood. Nothing lived to tear them down, or rust their metals, or make a home in the ruins. It was entirely empty of life, and silent."

"Sounds creepy," said Hawkeye.

Loki nodded, solemnly. "The place was a planet-sized tomb, and deserved respect for that if for nothing else, yet we trespassed there. And Malekith found us, as Thor had hoped."

"Wait." Bruce held up a hand. "You _wanted_ Malekith to come find you? I thought the idea was to keep him away from the Aether."

Loki nodded. "Indeed, and I later discovered that my mother was killed protecting Jane Foster and keeping Malekith from discovering her whereabouts." He frowned, looking down at the table for a second. "It was a gamble; Thor's idea was that Malekith would draw the Aether out of Jane Foster, thus saving her life, and that he could somehow destroy it before Malekith could take it into himself. We didn't realize at the time that the Aether was an Infinity Stone, and thus indestructible. So the plan was only half-successful."

Bruce winced. "That… doesn't sound good."

"No. It was not." Loki's eyes were far away as he absently touched his ribs; right about where Tony remembered seeing the scar from when Thor had first come in. "We led Malekith to believe that Thor was not a threat—convinced him that I betrayed Thor, with an illusion of a crippling injury. The Kursed was there and remembered me from the prison riot, and confirmed that I was no ally of Thor's, which aided in the deception. I threw both Thor and Jane down at their feet to do with as they pleased. Malekith opted to take the Aether first, rather than attempt to kill Thor."

He passed his hand over his mouth, gazing back into memory. "He drew the Aether out of her, I reversed Thor's injury, and he attacked it while I drew Jane off to a safe distance… but the attack failed. The Aether simply reformed, and entered Malekith's body. Rather than stay to see us dead, he left the Kursed and a handful of his men to take care of us, while he left to carry out his plan. Remember what I told you about Midgard's strategic value."

Everyone around the table nodded. "According to Foster's debrief," said Natasha, "the Convergence would put all the realms in alignment such that it would be much easier for him to use the Aether and affect all the realms simultaneously."

"Thor will have to tell you what occurred on your world," said Loki. "As for the Dark World, Thor and the Kursed battled while I kept four or five Dark Elves away from Jane Foster."

"By yourself?" asked Clint skeptically.

Loki smirked. "I did offer to spar with you all later, to prove that I could have defeated you on Midgard if I'd truly wished to, did I not? It was a challenging enough battle, but the outcome was not in doubt." He sobered as he went on, "Thor's combat, however, was much more difficult. The Kursed, as I mentioned earlier, was stronger than he, and nearly mindless with bloodlust. He had Thor on the ground and was pummeling him senseless when I finished my fight. So I came up behind him and ran him through with one of their swords.

"It didn't kill him."

Tony's eyebrows went up.

Thor took one look at his brother's face and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Loki blinked, pulling out of whatever memory he'd gotten caught in, and gave a halfhearted glare in return.

"Loki's intervention saved my life," said Thor quietly, "pulling the Kursed's attention away from me. But he… as Loki said, he did not fall, nor even seem to notice the pain of his injury. Instead, he turned to face my brother, and—and pulled Loki onto the very blade that was sticking out through his own chest." His voice dropped further. "It was a gruesome embrace."

Everyone winced, even Odin, as Loki ran his fingertips over the scar again.

"Fortunately, it was also his downfall," said Loki. "The Dark Elves carried a weapon similar to a grenade, only instead of exploding outward, they manipulated gravity to pull surrounding objects inward, into a kind of miniature singularity that would destroy whatever was in the radius of effect. I was in pain, but I was still alive, and I was still enraged at the _beast_ who had caused my mother to be killed. He had pulled me in close enough that I was able to activate one of the grenades on his belt. The Kursed shoved me away from him, back off the blade and onto the ground, and moments later the grenade took him. Crushed him into an infinitely small space, and then he disappeared."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We-ell, this has barely been looked over before posting, so there may be some inconsistencies or plot holes. If there are, I apologize. After I finished The Courier my brain didn't want to come back to this story right away.
> 
> Some of the flaws in Thor's strategy as described here were inspired by reading various fics from Kadorienne, most notably "If Thor:TDW Didn't Have Plot Shield".
> 
> Also, I am once again trying to make Odin less of a complete monster and try to find motives for some of what he did. I'm so inconsistent with the old fart, I swear, but I just don't want him to be a cardboard cutout, and canon has not made it easy for me to salvage him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki wraps up his cheerful little tale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies, it's been awhile so I was in a hurry to get this out, if there are any obvious mistakes please let me know.

"Wow," said Tony. The others looked to see if he had anything else to say, but he waved them off. "Nothing. Partly distracted by the tech. Plus, you know, hell of dramatic exit."

"Hm." Loki gave another little half-smile. "In any event, we three who remained on that world all believed my wound to be fatal. Thor and I… exchanged words, though you do not need the details of our conversation; we reconciled, in the moments that remained to us, the act of course made easier since we each believed we were saying our farewells for a final time."

Tony nodded, remembering Yinsen; he yanked himself out of the memory quickly, blinking rapidly, and glanced around the room to see if anyone had caught him. It was a little gratifying, though mostly just sad, to see that they were all wearing identical expressions to the one that was probably plastered on his face.

Loki shrugged, but the motion looked stiff, forced. "And then all grew dim and cold, and I knew no more."

Thor's face was pinched with grief. "Had I but known you lived…"

The other man leaned into his shoulder briefly. "I know. It's all right."

"So, did you actually die?" asked Bruce. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean, not to sound weird or anything, but with everything you've told us about an afterlife, and your ability for, uh, traveling… and you've got these Three Sisters standing right behind you, there."

Loki acknowledged the point with a little grin. "No, it's a valid question, Doctor Banner. In truth, I do not know whether I died and was brought back, or if somehow my seidr was enough to keep me in the land of the living long enough to begin to heal. If I did travel… _elsewhere_ , in a manner of speaking, I have no recollection of it." He glanced over his shoulder at the Norns's vessel, but She did not speak. "Really? You have nothing you wish to add here?"

"No, guardian. What happened to you is not terribly relevant to your narrative."

"And yet, illustrious ladies, I find it tremendously relevant to _me_."

"A fair point, child." There was the familiar ringing chime as the giant glass statue moved toward him. "Your thread in our tapestry did fray, but we refused to cut it. We watched it thin and unravel, until we feared it might snap of its own accord—which should not be possible, as we oversee the ending of all lives, yet for a time it seemed as though your soul might well become lost amid the weave. When it seemed that the thread of your life was on the verge of unraveling completely, the energies of Yggdrasil itself—your seidr, if you prefer, though unguided by your will—flowed into the remaining fibers and bolstered them. Not long afterward, with your soul anchored in the realm of the living, your body began to heal itself of its grievous wound."

"Okay, but weren't you run through?" asked Barton. "As in, actually run through, with a big hunk of metal sticking out of your body on both sides?" Loki nodded. "And you _healed_ from that?"

"So it would seem," said Loki. "Although I am not certain even Thor could have done the same, if it was truly only my seidr that allowed me to remain in the land of the living and not cross over to the realms of the dead. Certainly I was as surprised as anyone, when I awoke still on Svartalfheim, and not in Helheim."

"You died valiantly in battle, brother—or, you would have died thus—surely you would have gone on to Valhalla."

"Mm. As you say," Loki replied sardonically. "Given the choice I would much prefer Volkvangr, myself. Fewer drunken brawls."

"Loki!" Thor looked unsure whether to laugh or scold.

"Oh, come, I daresay even you would grow weary of battles fought every single day, blood and gore and screams, only to be followed by drunken revelry every night and then to wake the next day to do it all over again, eternally, until the End of All Things comes up on us." He wrinkled his nose. "No, thank you."

"So that was, what, nearly a year ago, right?" asked Steve. "We're almost to present day?"

"Indeed, there is little else to tell in the way of grand adventure," said Loki. "I realized, upon waking, that there was an opportunity before me. If I were to return in disguise to the palace and report my 'death', Thor would verify the story and I would be free. Free of Odin's spite, free of Heimdall's mistrust and constant spying… I might in fact be able to get some real _work_ done, without anybody breathing down my neck for a change."

"What kind of work?" Tony wanted to know.

Loki looked at him soberly. "Tha—the Titan remains a threat, Stark," he said softly. "And the Nine Realms must stand united against his inevitable arrival, if we are to survive at all. I had information to plant, warnings to deliver, rumors to spread, alliances to forge or facilitate, research to perform… The Titan is an immense threat, and there are many approaches to cover, many strategies to be advanced, if he is to be warded off or defeated."

"So you reported your death," said Natasha, "but Odin says you took his place on the throne?"

"I did." Loki's lips thinned in annoyance. "Just as he collapsed when I most needed him, upon discovering my heritage, so too did he collapse when I reported my death. He cannot seem to make up his mind whether he values me or not."

"That is your spite talking," said Odin. "You have cause to be angry with me, but you must never doubt—"

"I will doubt whatever I please, All-Father," said Loki. "You have given me more than enough cause for that, as well."

Odin looked away, and Tony thought he saw something of Thor in the gesture, in the furrow of his brow, or the way the big guy would try and cover his upset by biting his tongue and refusing to respond.

Loki sighed. "He collapsed into the Odinsleep, and at first I thought I might just leave him there to fade on his own. An ignoble death in his sleep, hardly becoming of a warrior; it would shame his legacy for all time and he would be denied even Valhalla… but then I thought of my brother, and how devastated he would be to lose all three of us so close together, and I… I could not do it." He was doing that thing where he looked at the table or at his hands rather than at any of the people in the room. "So instead I bundled the All-Father safely off to bed, with me still in my bloodied clothes from the fight on the Dark World, and concealed him from sight, and assumed his visage, and took his place."

Thor shook his head. "When I returned to Asgard… I spoke to Father, but—it was you, wasn't it?"

"Did you really believe that Odin would have let you go back to Midgard so soon?" Loki asked, not unkindly. "With the mood he had been in for so long, it would have been a wonder if he had not disowned you and named Tyr or, or Frey as his heir instead."

"So you told me what I wanted to hear," said Thor. "And conveniently got me away from Asgard so that there was one less person to spot your deception."

Loki scoffed, and looked again toward the broken bottles on the sideboard, as if he were really craving a drink right about now. Tony couldn't really blame him. "Are you joking? I offered you the throne and you would not take it. I pointed out the politics of literally _everyone_ bearing witness as you saved the Nine from Malekith's plot; your place upon the throne was secured _perfectly_ , and still you did not take it. Thor, all I would have had to do is _sneeze_ and the realms would have been clamoring for you to take up Gungnir and rule. You would have become king, I-as-Odin would have pretended to fall into the Odinsleep, thus bringing the real Odin out of hiding, and then I would have _vanished_. The fact that you refused your birthright could have started a civil war, with the king so old and no queen to produce another heir. It probably _would_ have started a civil war, except that I successfully _managed_ popular opinion to prevent it."

"I told you then—believing I told Father—that I would rather be a good man than a great king."

Both Loki and Odin scoffed at that, and Odin opened his mouth to speak, but Loki cut him off. "No, All-Father, he will not hear you." He took a breath, and his tone changed to something a little more patient. "You were about to tell him his duty is to the kingdom, correct?"

"It is the truth."

"It is, but coming from you it will only remind him of all the ways that your duty interfered with your ability to be a good father, or even a good person, and that is more important to him. You will talk of duty, and he will only retort with a list of the many ways you have failed in that duty over the centuries." Loki bit his lip, and for a second Tony thought he saw actual regret move over Loki's face.

"Instead, Thor, I will tell you this: we were raised in comfort, in opulent luxury, for our entire lives. You and I never lacked for food or clothing, and indeed we were given the finest of both to be had in all Asgard. Our education was of the very best, our training in battle surpassed by none, our exposure to the arts and cultures of other Realms unmatched in any other household." Loki leaned forward in his seat, his eyes intent. "And neither of us did a thing to earn such privilege. Your service to Asgard as its king is the way in which you _pay for_ all the bounty to which you have grown accustomed."

Thor blinked, clearly surprised at the thought.

"When you tell me, tell Asgard, that you would rather be a good man than a great king," said Loki, "you may sound noble in your own ears, but to the rest of us, you may as well just announce that you prefer to enjoy all the luxuries Asgard and her people have to offer, while offering Asgard nothing in return. You say you would rather be known as a _parasite_ , and yet still think yourself somehow above the unpleasantness of your duty, somehow _better_ than those who soil their hands with such things. And all the while, you remain heedless of the debt you owe, and that heedlessness is the only thing that keeps your conscience clear enough to permit you to continue living in such a manner, _taking_ from Asgard for centuries and then refusing to give anything back when your turn comes to do so." He sat back again, but did not take his eyes off his brother. " _That_ is what Odin means when he reminds you of your duty. You owe your parents nothing for raising you, for that is _their_ duty, but you did not grow up in a vacuum; your society, your people, all contributed to the life we were able to enjoy, and when the time comes, it will be your turn to pay for what you have been given, by governing that society in such a way that you allow it to continue and prosper."

Well, damn. For all that Loki and Thor came from a feudal space-Viking monarchy, that little speech was almost enough to convince Tony to turn socialist.

"I had not thought of it in such terms, brother," said Thor; he rubbed a hand across his chin thoughtfully. "Though it does raise the question, if I am to repay my debt through rule, how will you repay yours?"

Loki only looked amused. "You must have missed the part where I retrieved the Mind Gem from the Titan's own grasp, kept the Space Gem from falling into his hands, foiled an invasion of Midgard by sabotaging it while still half-mad, and before all that spent centuries keeping your thick hide from being _perforated_ by one foe or another."

To Tony's surprise, Thor laughed. "I suppose when you put it that way, you are the very picture of humility and subservience."

Loki shuddered, but his eyes sparked with amusement. "Ugh! By the ancestors, I should hope not. The only reason either of us is still alive is because I don't _do_ subservience." Thor laughed again, and when he quieted, Loki went on, "My primary gift is my intellect, brother, and I have used it to contribute to Asgard's welfare for the whole of my life, and I continue to do so now. I have had a break from my labors these past several months, but now that I am freed you cannot doubt that my plans, however selfishly motivated, will benefit Asgard and the rest of the realms."

Thor nodded, considering, and Tony saw that Odin had a similar expression—or at least, not quite so hostile or arrogant an expression as he usually wore.

"So you got to be king," said Clint, "but they pulled you out of a cell when we got here. Something must have gone wrong."

Loki shrugged. "I ruled for a little over three months, while Odin slept; an unusually long period for him to do so, but his age coupled with the strain he had endured meant that it was not unreasonable, nor cause for undue worry. I monitored him to make certain his power was replenishing itself properly and not overwhelming him, and in the meantime I guided Asgard's recovery efforts in the wake of the Convergence. I also granted myself one indulgence and exonerated myself 'posthumously'."

"Useful indulgence, if you could get away from Asgard," pointed out Natasha.

"True, I did have more than one motive for doing so." Loki smiled slyly. "I have not yet had opportunity to take advantage of it. The mutterings in the taverns of the realm seem to agree that Odin was attempting to save face, though opinions vary on whether that is because he was wrong about his devious second son and is attempting to atone, or because he was right and is trying to cover up the embarrassment.

"In any case, I sat the throne, and with Thor gone, no one was close enough to Odin to suspect that he was not himself; any oddities to his behavior, if they were noticed at all, were explained away as grief at the… dissolution… of his family."

"So you didn't get caught?" Natasha pressed.

"No," Loki said simply. "All was well, until the day Odin woke up."

"Oops," said Tony.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "One would have thought he might take a second to welcome his son back from the dead, or to ask for an explanation, but, well. I think I've established the pattern clearly enough for you here of what his behavior is generally like where I am concerned."

"Punish first, ask questions never?" guessed Steve. Loki tipped his head in acknowledgment.

"In retrospect, I believe I was too caught up in the business of the day to notice the alert that my monitoring spells should have given me," he said. "As it was, I was not even aware he had awakened until I heard a footstep behind me, where I sat at Odin's desk reviewing progress reports; I turned around just in time to be clubbed over the head, and I awakened in my old cell."

"And what did you find?" Natasha turned to Odin. "Did he misuse his position while impersonating you?"

"The position was not his to take; his every act while wearing my face was misuse by definition."

"No it wasn't," said Tony. "Stealing, maybe, usurping, something like that, sure. But it's only misuse if he actually, you know, _misused_ the power. So what'd he do? Sell off the crown jewels? Paint funny mustaches on all the public monuments? Sell all the kids into slavery on other planets?" Tony dropped the light banter and leaned forward. "Execute people he didn't like? Dismantle the legislature? Make alliances with the wrong people? Torture any dissenters?" He could just see Loki staring at him out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't turn to get a good look at his face.

Odin didn't say anything, which, _typical._

"Answer the question, Spear-Shaker," said the Norns.

"No," said Odin, and at first Tony thought he was defying them. "Loki did none of those things."

"Continue," said the Norns, and Odin's face turned a little red.

"After placing Loki in his cell, I consulted the records of the past months, and examined the documents on my desk. I found that Loki made no sudden or unjustifiable changes to Asgard's structure. Some funds were reallocated in ways I did not at first understand, but continued study revealed that he intended to implement new programs or support new areas of research. He had increased funding to the ambassadors' wing of the palace, and extended invitations to the leaders of other realms to establish a diplomatic presence here such as has not been seen for a long while."

Loki was watching his ex-dad with arms folded and an expression that just _dared_ Odin to come right out and say it.

Wonder of wonders, he did.

"Loki… ruled skillfully and with prudence, in my absence… better than I had cause to suspect."

"There, now, was that so hard?" Loki's voice just _dripped_ with false sweetness.

"I would have thought this would please you, brother," said Thor. "To be acknowledged for the good you did for Asgard."

His brother snorted. " _Please,"_ he growled. "Did that look like acknowledgement to you? An enemy could drag Odin's entrails from his _belly_ with greater ease than he would give up a compliment aimed in my direction. He simply cannot stand to admit that he was wrong about me, all this time."

"You did not give me any cause to believe you were—"

 _"You never asked."_ The words dropped one by one like stones into a pit. "Just as willfully blind as Thor. Just as arrogant and prideful as Thor. Perhaps you should strip _yourself_ of your powers, and banish yourself to Midgard. You never asked, you merely jumped to the conclusion that would most easily allow you to maintain your own comfortable worldview, secure in your own sense of _superiority_." Loki huffed, not quite laughing, giving Odin a look of pure disgust. "It was easier for you to club your own son over the head and throw him back into a cell than to simply _ask_ what he had been up to all this time."

"You would only have lied," declared Odin.

"To you? Probably. It's not as if the truth would have done any good, would even have _penetrated_ the thick armor of your own prejudice. But set aside my answers to questions you could not be bothered to ask. It was still easier for you to assume the worst than to stop for five seconds and wonder how you had managed to survive your Sleep!"

"Are you saying he didn't come down and interrogate you even after you were back in your cell?" asked Steve.

"He did not." Loki took a deep breath and visibly calmed himself. "But it matters not—"

"Brother, it matters a very great deal. Father has wronged you."

"Not for the first time," said Loki evenly. "But I say that it matters not because we have arrived at the present day. I ruled briefly _but well,"_ he flashed Odin a quick glare, "was returned to my cell, and was once more left to rot. He did not come to accuse or question me. You did not come, though at the time I hadn't realized he simply could not even be bothered to tell you I lived. My only companions were the guards, who likely did more than Odin would have to see to my comfort. I am sure Odin would have preferred I starve, so that he would not have to think about me any longer."

"That is not true!" And oh, look, they were back to Odin raising his voice while Loki blew him off.

"No, you're right, that implies that you were thinking about me at all," sneered Loki. "Or, no, perhaps you meant that you would not let me starve, because I was too _useful a tool_ to be allowed to die."

"Loki—"

"Spare me. I know what to expect from you now, All-Father, just as you think you know what to expect from me. It is fortunate that I no longer crave your acknowledgment or respect, or I should be heartbroken all over again." He closed his eyes and took another slow, deep breath. "As I was saying. I was returned to my cell. I probably would not have stayed there much longer, but then you all were brought to Asgard by the Three Sisters, I was brought out to speak to you, and here we all are.

"There. My tale is done." Loki stood and gave an exaggerated, theatrical stretch, falling into an equally theatrical bow, first toward the big glass statue, and then toward all of them around the table. "Thank you, illustrious ladies, for permitting to me a bit of entertainment, and thank you all for being such an attentive audience. It was most refreshing."

"You're welcome," said Tony, and grinned when he realized he'd spoken over Steve and Natasha, whose levels of dry sarcasm matched almost perfectly.

Loki hid his grin but still looked just as amused. "Ah, but how shall I repay you for your attention? I am not an ungracious host, and Thor prides himself on his hospitality to guests. Shall we stretch our legs together, tour the palace gardens? Or take a meal together, perhaps? It is nearly evening, after all. Or if nothing else, we might board a skiff and take the scenic route to the Bifrost, point out a few landmarks along the way."

"Actually," drawled Clint, leaning back in his seat, "you mentioned a friendly spar."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think maybe I kinda sorta have a handle on Odin's character that makes him not a complete psycho, but he still sucks.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we almost make it to the action sequence, but not quite.

It was a bit crowded, but they all managed to fit—all nine of them, including Odin and the big glass statue—onto one of the "skiffs" Loki had mentioned earlier; long, skinny, boat-shaped hovercrafts that slid gracefully through the skies of Asgard. There was the faintest low-pitched hum and vibration in the metal of the body as they flew. No emissions that Tony could see or smell. God, what he wouldn't give to reverse engineer one of these.

"What are the wings for? Shade, decoration?" They stuck up instead of out, forming an incomplete arch over the rear third of the craft.

"Stability." Loki stood in the far rear of the skiff, his hands caressing the controls (they couldn't possibly be as simple as a _boat rudder_ , there was just no way), guiding them on a curving path away from the palace and out to, presumably, someplace where they could get down and tear up the dancefloor without causing too much actual damage. Tony was trying not to gawk like a tourist, but damn. There was an entire floating _building_ that they'd just passed, and the sky here would send any astronomer worth their degree into spontaneous orgasm. Hawkeye was up front as far as he could get, and anytime anybody tried to talk to him he just completely ignored them, taking everything in. Tony wasn't sure he'd even blinked since they'd first taken off, and was debating whether they had time to start a pool on how long it would take for Barton to go full Leo DiCaprio, "king of the world" up on the very nose of the hovercraft.

Apart from Loki and Tony, the only others really close by in the back were the Norns' vessel, Natasha, and Thor and Odin, no surprise there. "Something I'm curious about," said Natasha, raising her voice just enough to carry over the wind.

"Only one thing, Agent Romanov?" Loki didn't take his eyes off the horizon, his hands making slight adjustments as they flew.

"One of the last things you said before you wrapped up, about being put back in your cell. You said you probably wouldn't have stayed much longer."

"That's correct."

"Implying that you could leave when you wanted to."

"Not implying," said Loki; "stating outright." His gaze flicked back toward her for a second. "I held the throne for a few months, Agent Romanov; all of Asgard's secrets were within my grasp." He shrugged, then shifted his feet and pulled the skiff around into a gradually tightening curve. "One of the very first things I made sure to learn was how to bypass the energy barriers in the royal prisons. And the mechanisms of energy barriers in general," he added, as Odin looked up sharply. "The All-Father could not keep me now unless I wished it."

"Meaning you wished it," said Tony, and the corner of Loki's mouth twitched, half a smile there and gone in a blink.

"So why stay?" asked Natasha.

Loki shrugged again. "I had my reasons." Suddenly a lot less forthcoming now that he didn't have a big glass statue _obligating_ him to spill. Which was irritating, but not for the reason Tony thought it would be. Loki was… actually, yeah, he could admit it. Barton had already pointed it out once. The two of them, Tony and Loki, could have hit it off under different circumstances. Hell, there was a chance he'd have gotten along with nearly everybody on the team, if they'd met under different circumstances. Tony wasn't annoyed that Loki had stopped giving them intel, he was disappointed that he couldn't pick the brain of one of the few interesting people he'd met in recent years.

It was a shame.

"And now?" Natasha pressed.

Loki smirked at her, _nice try,_ and did something with the controls. The wings arching over the back of the skiff began to fold down as the craft slowed. "Now, we are approaching the training grounds."

Tony glanced up as a shadow passed overhead, and saw what looked like a giant kinetic sculpture of some kind, spinning lazily only a few yards from the skiff's hull. He leaned around for a better view and saw what looked like three interlocking, giant rings of gold, copper, and silver, each ring consisting of maybe thirty huge, metallic, floating cubes the size of a small delivery truck. Nothing was touching the cubes that Tony could see, nor could he find anything visible holding them up in the air and keeping the rings in formation, but there they were, orbiting with ponderous grace, in, out, and around one another, each ring at a different angle to the ground.

"Nice."

"Practicality made beautiful. There's another one down there," said Loki, indicating with his chin, but Tony couldn't see it from this angle. The skiff slowed to a stop, then with deft motions Loki guided it sideways into a dock until there was a soft bump, followed by a vibration as the locks engaged and the wings dropped completely. They stepped out onto what could only be an observation platform, for all that it reminded Tony of the VIP boxes at his favorite football stadium; long and narrow, with banners waving in the stiff breeze and a wall of windows visible under the awning roof.

Once inside, Tony couldn't help the low whistle at the view. They were up maybe twenty stories, overlooking a huge open plain at least half a mile long from left to right and maybe half as wide. On the opposite side was a row of long, low buildings, with towers at either end holding pretty recognizable gun turrets. It looked like the laws of physics pretty much dictated what most weapons had to look like, even in the land of godlike space Vikings.

"Why did you bring us here instead of the sparring ring, brother?" asked Thor.

"Because my claim earlier was that I could have defeated all of you on your own ground, if I had had a mind to do so," Loki replied. "A one-on-one fight with each of you would be entertaining, but it would not illustrate my point." In the center of the observation deck was a high table with a glassy surface, but no chairs. Along one wall were several tall cabinets that reminded Tony of his tool chests at home. Loki moved to one of them and slid out a wide, flat tray full of… well, they looked like crystals from an old-time chandelier or something.

"So what is this place?" asked Bruce.

"Field maneuvers," said Steve confidently. He gestured across the field. "Those are barracks, aren't they? And that larger building in the back is probably your armory or the equivalent. The space is big enough to run mock battle scenarios."

"Indeed." Both brothers spoke at once.

"Six on one is a little better," said Barton, "but a big open field isn't exactly realistic either."

"Of course not," said Loki, "which is why we'll be using this instead." He held up the crystal he'd selected from the tray, then stepped across to the table and did something with his hands. The table lit up in a gorgeous gold holographic display, and when Loki set the crystal into a socket on his end, a series of glowing wireframe structures rose up from the surface. "A typical Midgard cityscape, assuming we have the scale correct."

"Okay," said Clint dubiously, "this is pretty and all, but what does that do for us?"

"Your people participate in mock battles for sport, do you not, with projectile weapons that fire harmless pellets so you do not injure one another? I believe they are filled with paint, are they not, to indicate a kill against your enemies?"

"Paintball?!" Tony almost laughed.

Clint was less amused, but just as incredulous. "How the hell do you know about paintball?"

"I told you before, I have traveled to your world frequently, but that is hardly relevant now. The point is that such arenas have their own obstacles and fortifications which may be altered to suit the players' wishes." He gestured toward the glowing table. "This display is a template, which you may modify as you choose. Once your alterations are confirmed, we will alter the terrain outside to match, and then our battle may begin."

There was a moment of silence, and then a lazy grin slid across Barton's face. " _Sweeeeet_ ," he drawled, and they were off and running.

Everybody gathered around the table and started talking, and it only took a couple minutes to ask questions and start making suggestions. Make the streets a little wider, the buildings should be different heights, stuff like that. "The streets wouldn't be clear," pointed out Bruce, "there'd be cars and stuff like that, right?"

"How solid are your buildings going to be when you're done?" Natasha asked, but she was looking at Clint when she said it. Yeah, bird boy was going to want to get up to a perch where he could do his thing.

And et cetera and so forth, but they finished up inside of five minutes. "Are you satisfied with this configuration?" asked Loki, and when they nodded, he did something else with the table controls, then moved to the window. "You may wish to watch this."

Tony was never one to pretend he wasn't curious about something, so he stepped right up next to Loki to watch the battlefield setup. Only… whoa. He'd been expecting some kind of machinery to come up out of the earth, maybe, or for the barracks to empty out as ground crews came and moved things into place. He had definitely not been expecting for the hovering kinetic sculptures, the big drifting rings with their giant metal cubes, to start _unraveling_ at each end of the battlefield, and for the cubes to float serenely into position, like some kind of psychedelic acid dream. As the cubes landed, some internal mechanism would make them shift, shrinking or expanding to give the general shape of cars and trucks, or the foundations of buildings. Others set down just far enough from each other to provide basic doorways, with more cubes stacking on top to give height to the mock "buildings".

Within minutes, the empty plain was transformed into a credible cityscape, complete with light sources on every corner. The only thing out of place was the fact that all the buildings were made of precious metals instead of brick and glass and stone.

"I want one," said Tony.

"Of course you do," said about three people standing next to him.

It made Loki laugh, an easygoing sound that turned heads and made Thor throw an arm across his shoulders. "This will be grand sport, indeed, brother!"

"We need rules," said Steve. Party pooper.

"Party pooper." Barton was psychic. It was like they were soul mates or something.

"The scenario will be fairly straightforward," said Loki, turning back toward the table. "As on Midgard, I will attack and you will defend. Your team has gathered intelligence which suggests that I will be attempting to establish a foothold… here." He pointed toward one of the taller buildings, about a third of the way in from one end. "We will enter the arena separately, five minutes apart; it is your choice whether I enter before or after you, and whether I enter from the near or far end of the arena."

"For the actual invasion you were already at the building by the time we got there," said Bruce.

"Yeah, no, I'm not giving him that advantage," said Clint. "We got our intel in time to establish a perimeter and we wait for him to come to us."

"Are you agreed?" asked Loki. People mostly shrugged and nodded, so Loki tapped something on the table. "I'm sending a signal beacon to the top of that building, and adding a few flights of stairs," he said. "My victory conditions will be met when I reach the top of that building and light the beacon. Your conditions are met when I am unable to continue, either because I yield or because I am incapacitated."

"Should we try and get the portal shut down, too?" asked Natasha.

"If you like. Perhaps you would prefer an added condition, that I am only victorious if the beacon is kept lit for a certain length of time?"

Shrugs and nods all around. It seemed reasonable, and realistic. A little less Fox and Hounds, a little more King of the Hill. In the real invasion, fighting the aliens had been almost pointless without being able to close the portal itself.

"Incapacitated?" Steve frowned.

"If we wish for this battle to be as realistic as possible, I fully expect you to use your full range of weaponry and your full strength to attempt to stop me. Thor will probably try not to kill me—"

"You're not as funny as you think you are," said the big guy.

"But it would be foolish of me to expect any of the rest of you to hold back," he finished. "You are, for the most part, only human. It is no boast to say that you will need your full strength against me. Your Hulk is not exactly known for his calm and restraint, so it is pointless to try and establish a rule he cannot help but break."

Bruce looked uncomfortable, but… "Yeah, fair point," said Tony.

Loki nodded, then sobered. "More importantly, Agent Barton bears a legitimate grudge against me, and according to some of our most ancient laws, he is well within his rights to attempt to kill me as a response to the harm I have done him. I am willing to give my word that if he does so on this battlefield, on this day, Asgard will not retaliate, nor hold him accountable for any crime. None will have been committed."

Thor looked pretty unhappy. "Holmgang, brother?"

"The conditions are not met for holmgang," said Odin.

"Uh, can I buy a vowel?" Tony asked.

"Holmgang is an honor battle," said Thor. "A duel between two men. It is also used sometimes as a legal arbiter of justice, trial by combat, if one of the men fights on behalf of the king. There are very specific rules which must be followed for honor to be satisfied and justice to be served. Otherwise, it is too easy for such things to get out of hand, to spiral into a never-ending blood feud where each combatant merely seeks bloody vengeance for the death of the previous one." He really did not look happy to be telling them all this, not that Tony could blame him.

"Uh." Bruce's eyebrows were up. "I thought this was supposed to be a friendly spar. Now you're talking about killing each other."

"Not at all," said Loki. "As the All-Father said, the conditions for a proper holmgang are not met. For one thing, Agent Barton is an archer, and I am a sorcerer. It is unlikely either of us would wish to set aside our preferred weapons and square off with axe and shield, or something equally ridiculous—"

"Yeah, no."

Loki glanced at Barton in acknowledgment. "For another, I give my word that I do not intend to use deadly force against any of _you_. If nothing else," he added brightly, "it would be rude to kill you on your very _first_ visit to our golden realm." Cute. "No, Doctor Banner, I merely give you express permission to use your full strength to try to stop me from accomplishing my goal in this battle scenario, and I further acknowledge that any injuries which may occur, up to and including my death, will be forgiven as a reasonable outcome of such an exercise. This is a military training facility, after all; such injuries are only to be expected. It would be much less reasonable to expect any of you to hold back."

"But you're going to hold back," pointed out Steve. "Hardly seems fair."

Loki smiled wryly. "Kindly recall everything you heard me reveal over the past two hours, Captain. At the risk of sounding self-pitying, I will point out that fighting an uneven match is nothing new to me."

Thor looked aggrieved while Odin harrumphed; Loki rolled his eyes. "If it is any consolation," he finished, "I will probably not have to hold back very much. Refusing to cause you permanent harm is not the same thing as denying myself the full range of my capabilities in combat."

Well, Tony couldn't really argue with that, and from the look on Steve's face, he couldn't, either. He could, however, turn to the Norns' vessel and ask, "What about you? I don't mean any disrespect; it's just, as far as I can tell, you came here to deliver a message to Loki, and make us listen to what he had to say. Now that that's done…"

"It is thoughtful of you to ask, son of Sarah," said She. "We will remain to observe, and converse privately with the All-Father. And perhaps afterward our conversation with all of you will resume."

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw Natasha frown at that. He wasn't exactly thrilled at the reminder, himself. The crazy-powerful Norns weren't really done talking, and Tony didn't really figure them for the type to waste time on small talk.

Loki was too cagey not to have caught the hint, but he didn't let on. "Shall we begin?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sincere apologies for leaving you hanging, both on the battle and for the delay in posting. I was sick for the first time in a couple of years last week and spent a lot of time asleep. As for the battle, my brain wouldn't let me do anything but show off the pretty pretty worldbuilding, no matter how I tried to move things along. Hopefully it's okay, I mean, I've already written almost 70 thousand words of pure dialogue, right?


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the long-awaited "friendly spar" occurs. Multiple times.

"Any sign of him yet, Iron Man?"

They were out on the battlefield, all the last-minute instructions taken care of: don't shoot the floating white basketballs (they were for surveillance and close-up battlefield observation), don't fly outside the bounds of the field (those turrets weren't just for the troops, they were also automated flyswatters and prevented ammunition or debris from flying off into the city), don't feed the gremlins after midnight, all that good stuff. There had been an extremely un-stealthy horn blast echoing overhead when they'd first entered the field, and another one almost exactly five minutes later, so they knew Loki was on his way, but that was all they had so far.

"Nope," said Tony, still flying a standard sweep pattern. "What about you, Katniss?"

"Negative," Hawkeye replied. "At the risk of sounding clichéd, it's quiet. Too quiet."

"You're right, that's pretty clichéd."

 _Naturally,_ that was when the beacon lit up on the building behind them.

Tony spun midair and executed full thrusters back toward the building. "Seriously?!"

"The fuck?"

"Widow, what's going on?"

"There's nobody up here, it just turned on by itself!" Yup, Tony had a visual, and that was pretty much what he was seeing too. No muss, no fuss, just a simulated open portal representing the start of an alien invasion. _Of course._

"Nay, Lady Widow, there is no one with you that you can _see_." Thor flung himself from his vantage point a couple buildings over, while Cap dashed up the stairs from ground level.

"God damn it." Hawkeye's arrow bounced off an invisible barrier, because of course it did, and the beacon continued to shine cheerfully.

Both Tony and Thor hit the barrier at the same time, Tony with repulsor blasts and Thor with the Big Damn Hammer. That at least managed to make the barrier light up for a second, revealing a perfect half-sphere centered on the beacon, but still no sign of Loki.

Cap arrived at the top of the stairs, only a little out of breath. "Any luck?"

Tony fired again, but without the hammer to back up his shots, the barrier didn't even flicker. "Don't bother, Cap," he said, "Big Thunder is the only one to even make a dent on this thing."

"We still have thirteen minutes," said Bruce over comms. "Maybe Thor can wear it down."

Nat folded her arms. "Meanwhile there are alien ships flying all over the city while we're standing up here."

"Loki's barriers cannot be as strong as those powered by the Tesseract itself," said Thor. "I shall—"

"Fatal blow, brother."

Loki's voice came out of nowhere, but his brother stopped in his tracks and dropped his arms. "Damn." He started to chuckle. "I might have guessed."

"You should have." Loki reappeared, finally, safely inside the dome. Looking entirely too pleased with himself, smug bastard.

"What does he mean, 'fatal blow'?" asked Cap.

"While he was yet unseen, I felt my brother's hand beneath my chin," said Thor. "Were this a real fight, he would have cut my throat. I am 'dead' and cannot continue the battle with you."

"Like this." A second Loki appeared, because of course it did, standing directly behind Steve with his hand resting politely on the side of Steve's neck. Then he vanished again, and the incoming arrow passed harmlessly through the spot he'd been standing. The Loki inside the barrier spoke. "For the purposes of our spar, you are now dead as well, Captain."

Steve shook his head, but like Thor he also had a rueful smile on his face. "Anybody else think we'll be able to get through the dome before the time is up?"

He was considerate enough to mute his comms, but from his perch on the neighboring roof they all heard Hawkeye's shout, "Ass!" echoing off the metal buildings. "How is this a spar?"

"Well I'm just so very _shy,_ " Loki called back. "And confrontation makes me uncomfortable!"

Thor cracked up laughing.

"I, uh, take it you don't want me to come up and give it a try?" asked Bruce.

"Nah," said Tony, "you'd probably be put to use on the ground for the apocalypse anyway." He turned to Loki. "How the hell did you get up here, anyway? Teleport? That sky walking thing?"

"I believe you call it 'jogging'," smiled Loki. "At least until I got to the stairs. Then I walked."

Natasha looked disgusted. "Seriously?"

"I considered removing you before I lit the beacon, Agent Romanov, but was concerned that your 'death' would alert your comrades."

" _Bozhe moy._ "

Loki tipped his head and smiled innocently. "Best two out of three?"

"Ass!"

"Got any strategies that don't involve invisibility?" Tony asked.

"A few, yes."

"How many of them do you want to test out?" Loki blinked at him, not following (yeah, right), so he elaborated. "You were trying to make the point that you could have kicked off the invasion easily if you were really trying, _but also_ you were going to prove you could have taken us in a fight." He shrugged, and raised his eyebrows. "Wanna fight?"

Loki looked them all over. "Is that the general consensus?"

"Yes!" Hawkeye yelled again. "Ass!"

He did something with his hands, and the beacon went out. "Well, I suppose I would hate to deprive Agent Barton of the opportunity to shoot at me until he feels better," came the reply.

* * *

So they set up again.

And lost, again.

This time, Loki wasn't invisible, but he didn't have to be. They watched him go into one of the nearby buildings, right where Hawkeye could see him but not get a shot off. So Cap ordered Widow off the roof while he switched places with her. "You have the best chance of sneaking up on him of all of us," he said. "And if he gets past you, I might be able to hear him coming, or keep him physically off the beacon until reinforcements arrive."

Fair enough. Seemed plausible. And then Iron Man watched as Captain America climbed the stairs, stepped on up, and lit the beacon.

"Shit, he's using mind control again!" yelped Hawkeye, _but no._

Turned out, the Loki that they had seen going into the building was a decoy, and while they were distracted by that, the little shit had snuck up on Cap and "killed" him, stolen his comm, and then ordered Widow out of the way _himself_ and sent her off to chase shadows. They'd already established that once the beacon was lit, nothing they could do would break down the barrier Loki put up to protect it, as long as he stuck around to babysit. So all he needed to do was kick back and wait while the imaginary aliens destroyed the world.

Seeing that smug look on Steve's face, even knowing it wasn't really him, was annoying as hell. "Would you like a chair to kick back in while the invasion happens around you?" Tony snarked. "A nice lounger, maybe, work on your tan? Mojito? Martini?"

"Nah, I'm fine," said Loki with Cap's voice. He pulled the comm unit from his ear and tossed it to the real Steve, who had finally made it up the stairs. "I gotta commend ya, pal," and could he possibly exaggerate the accent any further? "the uniform is _great._ It hugs in all the right places, truly. I feel so gosh-darn _patriotic_ wearing this." He morphed his face back to look like himself, but kept the uniform. And the smug expression.

"Am I the only person who finds that really disturbing?" asked Hawkeye over the comm.

"No," everybody chorused.

"Again?" Loki asked.

"Of course, brother," said Thor, "but I feel it fair to warn you that I grow bored."

"Then perhaps this time I shall give you something to do."

* * *

The invasion this time had  _ground troops_ . There were so many clones running around, darting behind corners, leading them off up the wrong streets, and pretending to surrender only to dissolve into sparks when touched, that by the time the real Loki made it up the stairs, nobody picked him out of the dozen that were already up there. It took a little longer, time-wise, for Loki to light the beacon, but he still did it without them laying a finger on him.

"You know, on the one hand, I'm pissed that we keep losing," said Tony. "On the other…"

"You gotta admire his style?" asked Natasha.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"And this is with empty streets," pointed out Steve over comms. "It's just us, no distractions. Imagine that strategy with crowds of people, traffic, all of it."

"The other guy would be useless in this," said Bruce.

"You gotta admire his style," Natasha admitted.

* * *

They were taking a short break, Loki graciously helping them track down and retrieve Hawkeye's arrows. "You gonna actually let us fight you at some point?" Clint was asking.

Loki paused, and narrowed his eyes at them. "Why? Tired of my dishonorable cheating?"

Everyone except Thor shared a bewildered glance. "Uh… I wouldn't say dishonorable, or cheating," said Steve.

"Effective," put in Natasha. "Practical."

"Pain in the ass to try and counter," agreed Tony. Although he had some ideas he wanted to try with infrared at some point. Not this time, this particular suit only had night-vision and it was too bright out for the sensors, but he could see about upgrading with a little thermal imaging system, shouldn't be too bulky…

Loki's suspicious defensiveness gave way to confusion.

"I have learned, brother, that the people of Midgard have a different approach to all types of battle, and toward overcoming obstacles and challenges in general," said Thor. "Your skills will not be mocked on this day."

It was almost funny, except not, watching Loki's face as he reacted to that statement. Here he was, this one-man stealth brigade, the guy who'd spilled practically his life story for them, who'd gotten drunk off his ass so he could talk about his suicide attempt and torture in front of a room full of hostile strangers; this was the guy who'd faced adversity that nearly broke his brain yet still managed to overcome it singlehandedly… and he didn't seem to know what to do with the idea that the Avengers weren't going to despise him for kicking their collective ass in a simple training exercise.

There was a pulsing hum overhead, and they all looked up to see a pair of skiffs approaching from the near end of the field. They were only visible for a few seconds, then they curved around behind the observation deck.

"Damn." They all turned back to look at Loki, who was gazing upward with an irritated frown. "I do believe you spoke too soon, brother."

"Why, do you know who it is?" asked Natasha.

Loki rolled his eyes and shot an annoyed glance at Thor. "I shall wager an amber pendant that your treasonous friends have finally arrived," he said.

"Were you expecting them?" asked Bruce uneasily.

"After the storm that Thor created earlier, I was honestly surprised we did not see them come running up to discover what was the matter while we were still in the palace," Loki replied. "Perhaps they've spent this time searching for you and only recently noticed the signal beacon."

"Okay, so is this a problem for us?" asked Steve.

Loki sighed. "It could be worse. I suppose in theory these might not be Thor's friends, but a detachment of the palace guard. Odin might be interested in defying the Three Sisters of Yggdrasil and having me escorted back to a cell. I doubt that, however; he is impressively stubborn, but even the All-Father is not stubborn to the point of abject stupidity. It is also possible that these are merely military officials curious to see what we are doing on the training grounds when they have not been notified or ordered to prepare a large movement of troops. Still, the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif typically follow Thor about like a pack of especially bloodthirsty puppies, so it is almost certain to be them."

"And what does that mean for us?"

"Nothing," said Loki. He looked up at the sky and made a beckoning gesture, and one of the floating white surveillance basketballs obligingly dropped down for a close-up. Loki's eyes were hooded, and his voice flat and hard. "Keep them out of this." Then he turned to Thor, as the device swooped back up and out of the way. "I do not care how much _fun_ they think it would be, nor how much they wish to pound out their frustrations on _my_ sorry hide. If they attempt to join in our play, I will _not_ hold myself back, as I have promised to do for the humans."

"Very well, brother."

"Okay, but if it isn't them," Bruce wanted to know. "If it's actually some officials or guards, like you said. Are there going to be any repercussions for us humans being here?"

"There will not," replied Thor. "The Three Sisters themselves brought you to Asgard, and whatever Loki's legal status, I remain heir to the throne. Anyone who wishes to gainsay them will have to defy me, and not even the most adamant among them are foolish enough to do so."

"So…" They all turned to Clint. "So, what—we all just carry on? Or are we done here?"

"Do you wish to be 'done here', as you say?" asked Loki.

"Hell no." Clint crossed his arms, tapping his bow against his leg. "I dunno about you clowns, but I was just getting warmed up."

Loki grinned then, although it was possible he was showing just a touch too many teeth for comfort. "I was hoping you would say that."

"Well, to be fair, I'd be happiest if we kept going until at least one of my shots landed."

"Of course."

"New scenario?" Tony piped up.

"Indeed." Loki's smile widened. A dagger appeared out of nowhere in his hand, and he twirled it before making it vanish again. "Let's put on a show."

"A show." Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Are you changing the conditions?"

"Not for you," said Loki. "Or, not entirely. I will use considerably less stealth this time. For yourselves, Doctor Banner, I notice that you have refrained from transforming until now. If you wish for your other half to make an attempt at demolishing these structures, you are welcome to do so for this next exercise. For the rest of you, I shall use a different technique to represent a fatal blow."

Thor wrinkled his nose. "I hate that spell."

"It is perfectly harmless."

"I still hate it."

"What spell?" asked Clint, eyes narrowed.

"It causes a temporary paralysis of the limbs," said Loki. "It is not painful, though I am told that there is sometimes a pins-and-needles sensation. Breathing and speech are not impaired, and you can still turn your head and observe your surroundings. You simply cannot move—which for Thor and his friends meant that they also could not cheat, once they were rendered 'dead', and had to remain where they fell." Loki shrugged. "As part of military exercises, it is used on occasion to create believably wounded troops or civilians as part of a mock rescue scenario, or to help train battlefield medical personnel. There is even a version that will affect only one limb at a time, to simulate non-fatal injuries."

"That's… pretty neat, actually," said Bruce. The rest of them nodded, and Steve looked especially intrigued. Tony's old habit of finding nifty military applications for stuff perked up its head; it would be pretty cool to have something like that to use back home. Still…

"How temporary are we talking?" he asked.

"It will last perhaps three minutes," said Loki. "The action of battle moves quickly enough that a longer effect is unnecessary."

"Not much of a fight if you're just going to throw that on all of us at once," Natasha pointed out.

"No, of course not, which is why the spell has limited conditions in which it may be applied. Touch, obviously, as if I were to stab you with a sword or break your neck, but also… Thor, would you mind?"

Big Thunder rolled his eyes, but he also set his hammer down and checked over his shoulder before taking a couple steps away from them. "If you must," he sighed.

"Thank you, brother," said Loki… and then he pulled a knife out of his sleeve and flung it full-strength into Thor's throat.

"Hey!" "Shit!" "Whoa!"

Thor dropped like a stone; Clint and Natasha both drew on Loki simultaneously, while Bruce immediately hopped over and knelt beside the big guy. Before he could even check for an injury, however, Thor spoke, calm as you please: "Was it necessary to shock my friends in such a manner, brother?"

"Perhaps not, but it was fun."

Tony could feel his eyes bugging out, but couldn't seem to make them stop.

"You're really okay?" asked Bruce.

"I am perfectly fine, my friend." He lifted his head and caught all of them staring at him. "Truly. As Loki described, I am not in any discomfort. I simply cannot move."

"Okay, but the knife…" Tony wasn't sure which of the guys spoke.

"Vanished." Loki shrugged again. "This battlefield arena often hosts several hundred troops at a time. For many of their exercises, the troops use specialized weapons, which are enchanted to only inflict this effect rather than true damage. Arrows, especially, are given such treatment, since they are less easily controlled than the strike of a sword."

"And it'll wear off in a couple minutes, right?" asked Clint. "And then we can set up for one last attempt to stop you from lighting that damn beacon."

"Loki is perfectly capable of reversing it _now_ ," groused Thor. Still lying there like an especially talkative corpse.

"True, but I must admit that after the past couple of years, it is rather cathartic seeing you like this," said Loki cheerfully.

Thor growled, but he stayed put. His fingers didn't even twitch.

"Still, you have a good point. We have an audience now besides the All-Father and the Three Sisters, and I am sure they all grow impatient to see our business here concluded." He waved a hand in his brother's general direction, and Thor immediately propped himself up on his elbows before moving to stand. "Not that I care about anyone's patience apart from the Norns'."

Loki bent down and picked up a pebble from the grassy "street", tapped it once with a finger, then passed it to Steve. "I shall take my leave of you now. Take as much time as you like to position yourselves, with the understanding that I will utilize a more straightforward approach for our next encounter. When you are all prepared to begin, simply drop that pebble to the ground, and I shall know."

With that, he took a step to the left, and vanished, because he could just do stuff like that.

They all stood around blinking at each other like idiots for a second, then Thor twirled his hammer once and looked to Steve expectantly. Clint got that lazy smile on his face that said he was ready to go kill things.

"Call it, Cap," he said. "Let's get this show on the road."

* * *

Alien invasion-slash-friendly spar, take four. Team squared away, Mean and Green on standby, and Iron Man flying a search grid. Thor could sorta fly, but he wasn't maneuverable enough to join Tony for this kind of thing.

"Any sign of him, Iron Man?" Déjà vu.

Tony launched himself a little higher, just as Loki came into view. "Yep, there he is; still about five blocks out. Walking straight up the middle of the street. Should we let him come to us?"

"He hasn't changed his mind and gone stealth mode after all, has he?" asked Hawkeye.

Loki made a throwing gesture with his hand, and one of the car-sized metal cubes exploded off the ground and flung itself about a block and a half up the street. The noise on impact was deafening, as it tumbled across the top of several other car-cubes before crashing into a building.

"Nope," said Tony.

"Looks like he means business this time around," said Cap. "Iron Man, you're up; Bruce, when you change is up to you but I'd recommend it be soon."

Another car-cube hurtled into the air, and Tony recalled that Loki had given them permission to play a little rough—they just hadn't had the opportunity to really exercise that option until now. So. "Let's see how you like these…" Stinger missiles: deployed; one big futuristic cube: turned into scrap-metal confetti. _"Excellent."_

Tony swooped around as Loki spotted him and stopped in his tracks. The next car-cube launched itself right at Tony, but he had repulsors for that, and used the flying shrapnel to cover his approach.

"Get 'im, Stark!"

Altitude: ten meters. Target: stationary and in range. Charge repulsors; adjust approach: aim—

Loki stood tall, smiled, and made a twisting gesture with his hand… and _every single connection_ of Tony's armor disengaged simultaneously. It didn't explode, there was no impact blowing things apart or anything like that. Tony's suit simply fell off of him in pieces. While he was three stories up in the air.

Tony flailed, but there was no way he was going to survive this, he was too far up, Thor and Hulk were too far to catch him, and he _really_ needed to reexamine his life choices if the first thought to go through his head when in panicked freefall was, "Not again."

But his armor fell past him and clattered to the ground, while he seemed to be slowing down midair. Tony managed to get his feet under him well enough to take the impact, stagger back and drop into a sit, and then roll backward; the force of the landing was even less harsh than that one time he'd gone hang gliding in Germany. Worst injury was where he scraped his elbow on the edge of one of his shin-guards, lying there in the grass.

He sat up, heart still pounding, surrounded by the remains of his suit. The team were probably all freaking out, but Tony's comms had been integrated with the armor rather than a separate earpiece, so that was gone now, too.

Loki was standing over him. "First rule of artillery, Stark: if your target is in range, so are you."

Smug bastard. "Yeah, I got that, _thanks_." When he was _twelve._

"Are you injured?"

"No." A little freaked out, heading toward highly annoyed, but not injured.

"Very good," said Loki. "We'll take it as read that I've 'killed' you, but unlike my demonstration with Thor I shall not leave you helpless on the ground. You will no doubt wish to collect the pieces of your armor, and I doubt you would fare well if you were to be stepped on by the green beast."

Well, Tony couldn't argue that. "You're not wrong."

One of the floating white basketballs had dropped down to get a good look at them; Loki glanced at it with a raised eyebrow. "Smile and wave, Stark," he said cheerfully. "Now if you'll excuse me, the rest of your team are no doubt waiting to engage with me until I've gotten a safe distance from you."

"Also probably not wrong," said Tony. He debated flinging a piece of armor at Loki's forehead; _every single join_. Even the fingers of his gauntlets had all separated out into their individual component pieces, three to a finger. He could ping one of them off of the bastard's forehead, couldn't he? Gathering this all up was going to take forever, never mind reassembling it before he could leave for Earth.

Loki was grinning like he could read Tony's mind. "Worry not," he said, "I will come back and assist you myself once I have finished killing off all your friends and launching the invasion."

"You have a _deeply_ skewed idea of what counts as reassuring," said Tony.

"I know." The asshole looked like he was barely managing to hold back from laughing himself silly. With a slight bow and a Roman-style salute, he turned and headed up the street. "I shall not be more than a few minutes, I'm sure!" he called over his shoulder, before breaking into a jog and tossing two more car-cubes into the air as the Hulk roared in the distance.

Tony stared after him for a second before shaking his head and reaching for the larger pieces of his torso armor. Annoying little shit. Tony could only hope that the rest of the team would give Loki a little bit more of a run for his money.

Still, it was just Natasha had said earlier: you kinda had to admire the guy's style.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated whether or not to include the beginning of the final round in this chapter. It seemed a touch too short without that moment, but possibly a touch too long with it and I was concerned that I maybe killed the suspense? But yeah. Sparring's not done. You all have been so patient with the previous seventy thousand words of pure dialogue, I thought it would be nice to give you more than one chapter of badass Loki, tearing it up with a smile on his face.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki is a badass (ie, my readers finally get the spar they were hoping for, instead of the almost-spars of the previous chapter).

Okay, so, most people who weren't, like, professional soldiers generally assumed that small-unit combat looked a lot like the average kung-fu movie: the hero faces off against one bad guy at a time, then it escalates to taking on two at once, then maybe a couple more, and the hero mops the floor with all of them even though it gets progressively more difficult. And then there's the boss battle, or whatever.

Tactically, this was an extremely stupid thing to do for the guys who had the advantage of numbers on their side.

Tactically, the Avengers weren't actually stupid.

Once Loki got clear of Tony, everybody except Black Widow _converged upon him_ in a style reminiscent of piranha swarming a hapless cow. Hawkeye got off at least three shots—all exploding rounds—before Thor and Steve reached his location, which Loki only barely managed to dodge. While he was jukin' and jivin', Hulk picked up two of the car-cubes and banged them together before throwing them both at him. Then Thor and Steve showed up. Then Hulk took a running leap and joined the party personally.

Tony couldn't help wincing. Loki _had_ given them permission to use full force against him, but this just wasn't going to be pretty. Tony gave it maybe a ten-count before Loki was down. Which would still be respectable, y'know, one guy against four, never mind those four being Avengers, but still.

Only…

Only that ten-count had come and gone, and Loki was still standing. Actually, he was more like _dancing._

The action was too thick at first for Tony to really see what Loki was doing in the middle of it, but he was clearly giving the guys a run for their money. They all clashed in one big knot for a few more seconds, and then he leaped clear of the fray, diving into a forward tumble. Hawkeye took the opportunity to fire another arrow at him.

Loki caught it—freaking _caught_ an arrow coming at him, while laid out on the grass and tumbling like a kindergartner in gym class—and smoothly turned his roll into a spin and flung the arrow at Captain America, all in one motion, a split second before it detonated.

The arrow didn't hit, luckily, but the explosion threw Cap backwards and out of the immediate radius, and apparently that was all the opening Loki needed to turn the tide on this fight. He hadn't stopped moving with the momentum of his roll, either, it was all, come up on knees rotate throw get feet under him, and then _launch_ his bad self back into the thick of the action.

Straight at Hulk, which, not a move Tony would have predicted, given the last time those two had met face-to-face.

He was too close to Hulk for Thor to throw his hammer, and too far for Thor to grab. Hulk roared and raised his fists high, and Loki took the opening to slide between Green and Mean's legs, somehow twisting onto his back so that he could slap the back of Hulk's legs with both hands and propel himself upright. Tony wasn't sure what that was about, unless Loki was trying to put some kind of spell on him and needed to be in physical contact to pull it off. Whatever he'd tried didn't seem to have any effect, but it didn't look like Loki was worried—

Okay, now he was climbing Hulk's back.

Tony blinked and did an exaggerated sitcom double-take… nope. Still climbing the Hulk. His feet were braced on the ridge of bone at Hulk's waist and one hand was clutching that big muscle that ran across the top of Hulk's shoulder. Trapezius, Tony's brain supplied; thanks, brain, not important right now. Loki's other hand was waving in the air like he was some kind of demented rodeo cowboy, and the analogy was not helped by the way Hulk was raging and twisting and ducking, trying everything to get Loki off of him short of just, y’know, grabbing his arm and yanking. Well, the big guy wasn't exactly known for his calm and well-reasoned thought processes.

Thor finally found an opening and was closing in behind them, so Loki hopped up quickly onto Hulk’s shoulders and using the big guy’s momentum on his next lurch forward to throw himself sky-high, making one last flamboyant wave with his free hand… and as he grabbed air, he left behind a trail of yellow-green sparks that all coalesced into a cloud around Hulk's head, zipping in and out right in front of his eyes like a swarm of mutant glowing killer wasps or something.

And, there went Green and Mean, distracted right off the battlefield, swatting at the glowy lights and following them when the swarm began to drift a little bit, leading him slowly but surely away from the fight.

Loki was executing a backflip in the air, because why not look good and be badass both, apparently—oh, no, he was dodging another explosive arrow, okay. Cap threw his shield at the same time that Thor came leaping at his brother, hammer held high. Tony had a hunch what was coming next, and covered his ears.

Which was a good thing, and he only barely got his hands up in time. Loki caught the shield, just as Tony expected—note to self, never throw anything at Loki that you don't want to see used against you right afterward—spun around midair, and took his brother's hammer blow to devastating effect. That shockwave Thor and Cap had made in Germany, couple years back? Loki _amplified_ it, somehow; the car-cubes closest to the impact actually tumbled back and smacked into the buildings, some of which were visibly rocking on their foundations. If Tony hadn't already been seated, the shockwave would have knocked him on his ass; both Cap and Thor flew backwards a good fifty feet, tumbling like autumn leaves on a windy day. The impact should have thrown Loki, too, but apparently if one could amplify a shockwave in defiance of the laws of physics, one could also nullify its force in one's immediate vicinity if one felt like doing so.

One was kind of a badass that way.

Loki landed on his feet, but still didn't stop moving, turning around and adjusting his grip on the shield, winding up for an Olympics-perfect discus throw, and launching that bad boy straight at Hawkeye's perch. It was moving so quickly through the air that it actually _sang._

Yeah, Barton didn’t stand a chance.

When they'd first set up the battlefield, they had made sure to include lots of balconies and such for Barton to make use of, but they weren't any wider than any window ledges or fire escapes on a typical building in Manhattan; so Hawkeye could duck, and he could shuffle, but he really had no place to go to get clear of an incoming missile aimed straight at him. The shield came in at a shallow angle, scraping and throwing sparks along the side of the building, and—inevitably—Barton slipped as he was trying to scramble away.

It was a long way down.

"Shit!" Tony was on his feet without even thinking about it, heart in his mouth until he realized that Barton was falling much more slowly than gravity should dictate. As Tony watched, he windmilled his arms until he was no longer falling headfirst, and took the landing in a perfect parachute drop-and-roll. He made it partway up onto his knees, and then Loki's oops-you're-dead spell kicked in, and he flopped back down, flat onto his face. He was far enough away that Tony could only barely see him turn his head, but still close enough that Tony could clearly hear him shout, "I'm okay!" followed by, "Eat a bag of dicks, Loki, you fucker, goddamned son of a—"

The rest got drowned out in the noise of fighting, because Loki hadn't let himself be distracted the way everyone else had been by seeing Hawkeye _falling twenty stories off a goddamn building_ , and they could maybe be forgiven for having lost focus for a second, right?

Thor and Steve had both come back in on Loki at about the same time, but with Hulk out of the way Tony had a better view of what Loki was doing to keep himself alive, and it was gorgeous. Wherever one of his opponents expected him to be, he would manage to put his other opponent in that spot instead, so that they spent more time trying not to accidentally hit each other than they did landing any shots on Loki. Where Thor and Steve both favored straight-on, square-off-and-hit-you attacks, Loki whirled and ducked and aimed for the knees and tangled the two of them up in each other. He still took hits, but not nearly as many as he should have.

It was amazing. Okay, sure, a good fighter knew how to use their environment to their advantage, and a well-trained fighter could make a weapon out of impromptu objects in the vicinity. But this was the first Tony had seen someone use one’s own opponents as both cover and weapon against each other.

Of course, Thor had the advantage of knowing Loki’s fighting style a bit better, it seemed, because after another minute of this he caught on and stepped back, forcing Loki to deal with Steve one-on-one.

This did not faze Loki. Like, at all. He just changed styles and was suddenly a taller version of Clint or Natasha, going full-out ninja on the captain. Cap handled it pretty well, remembering to use his legs, blocking a lot of shots, but without his shield he was just a guy not quite as strong or as fast as Loki, and it was really only a matter of time.

Loki got under Steve and threw him into a parked car… cube, thing. Cap bounced back pretty quickly, but Loki had followed him over, and with a quick sidestep, got behind him, put both hands on either side of his head, and—

Loki suddenly tripped sideways, and a split-second later, Tony heard the crack of a gun going off. What the fu—

Natasha, right. Not just a pretty face, and not willing to sit there and wait her turn to get killed.

Steve landed a solid punch to Loki’s jaw and he dropped to one knee, and Thor came in again, looking like he was enjoying himself way too much, considering live ammo was involved now.

Loki only barely made it back onto his feet in time. Thor grabbed him—

Only not really, because Loki’d managed to find time to replace himself with a double, which vanished while Thor stumbled forward. Magic. Right. Just because he wasn’t being stealthy didn’t mean he couldn’t still use magic.

Loki reappeared behind him, but didn’t take an obvious shot. Instead, he stood there all spraddle-legged and panting, arms held low and apart, fists clenched, hair wild, teeth bared… and then he raised one knee high and stomped his foot.

The earth _shook out._

Not "shook", not like a mini-quake, the way California got all the time, no. Not even like the thing he’d done back in the palace, when he was really pissed off at Odin. "Shook out", like somebody shaking out a damn picnic blanket to get the leafy bits off of it. A six-foot-high _wave_ of earth rippled out around Loki in a perfect circle, obscuring Tony’s view of him for a second while Thor and Steve were tossed about like rag dolls. With the earlier shockwave, car-cubes had gone for a tumble. Now, they went _flying_ , striking the nearby buildings some two or even three stories up. The nearest buildings rocked and swayed on their foundations like trees in a hurricane, looking _way_ too close to the edge of collapse for Tony’s peace of mind. The noise, between the clang and clash of metal and the rumble of earth, was incredible.

The oncoming wave reached Tony and he braced himself, covering his head with his arms, his mind stuck on a repeat of _oh shit oh shit oh shit I hated surfing oh shit;_ but some kind of glowing dome appeared around him, and the wave just… parted around it, like water splashing over a boulder. Dirt and chunks of turf flew everywhere, but Tony was perfectly safe. He glanced behind him just briefly, only long enough to see the wave peter out and stop after another ten yards or so.

 _Thanks, Loki, please don’t ever let me get on your bad side._ And if the whole idea behind this exercise had been for Loki to _make a point_ , he’d just succeeded in that one moment. Damn.

Through the dust and debris, Tony saw a flash of light, and squinted to watch a bright greenish-gold bolt strike the lip of the building where Natasha and the signal beacon were. The metal of the giant copper cube warped and a couple pieces came flying off; if that had been a brick-and-steel building…

"Widow, you okay?" That was Cap, calling into his comm as he hauled himself up onto his feet; then, "Good. No. No, I’m good here…. Nngh. You’re not kidding."

He barely made it two steps before Loki was on him again, and was even quicker this time around to get behind Steve, put both hands on either side of his head, and simulate breaking his neck.

Cap went down like a sack of potatoes, with Loki catching him at the last second so he wouldn’t hit his head and _actually_ get hurt. "Yeah—yeah, guys, I’m fine!" Tony heard him call. It only barely helped the sick feeling in his gut. _Jesus,_ that looked realistic.

Loki jogged a couple steps away, back out into the middle of the street, and didn’t take his eyes off of Thor the whole time. Out of nowhere, a pair of daggers appeared in his hands, and it was only then that Tony realized, he’d been unarmed the entire time up to this point.

"Still bored, brother?" he called. Hulk roared, somewhere off in the distance. Three of the floating white basketballs had glided in close for a better view; the brothers barely spared them a glance.

"On the contrary, it is finally about to get interesting," Thor answered, with a deadly looking grin on his face. Yeah, those two had their issues to work out.

Loki twirled one of his daggers, as they began to circle one another. "Try to remember not to electrocute your friends."

"Try to remember I’ve never needed my lightning to defeat you," Thor fired back, and then it was on… and all Tony could think was _holy crap, they've been holding back this whole time._

Thor had fought with the Avengers for a few years, now, but Tony had never seen him fight like this. They'd always known he was stronger, faster than human, but with enemies to fight who were only human themselves, Thor had evidently never felt the need to go full-out balls-to-the-wall in any of their battles back home.

Here, now, Big and Blonde wasn't holding back. Now they could see what he was really capable of, and he was capable of a _lot._ The man was a damn tank, and if even one of those hammer blows were to connect, it really looked like they'd be scraping Loki off of the ground with a spatula.

But where Thor was a tank, Loki was a cobra. Or a one-man hornet's nest. Thor would land a punch, and Loki would roll with the blow and turn the momentum into a strike of his own. Thor would hammer down, and Loki would dodge lower and land a kick to Thor's knee that left him staggering. Thor would charge, and Loki would tumble out of the way. Loki might have a black eye, but Thor was bleeding from a slice along his cheek, and another down his arm.

"Stand and fight me!" Thor growled.

Loki bared his teeth a little too wide for amusement. "Do I look like an idiot?"

"You run away like a coward!" and, oh-ho- _ho boy_ was that the wrong thing to say. Thor tended to get a big mouth on him when he fought, and they'd had to lecture him more than once for being an ass when he bragged a little too hard in the heat of the moment.

Loki’s teeth were still bared; for a second, his eyes glowed green, and Tony was back to thinking, very calmly, _oh, shit,_ but instead of another earthquake, he took one deliberate, exaggerated step backward.

And then the Hulk barreled into Thor like a freight train.

Those sparks that had been swarming around Hulk's head had led him away from the fight while he tried to take out his rage on them, but from the look of things, Loki had no trouble using them like a carrot on a string to lure Green and Mean wherever he wanted him to go. The sparks had dissipated enough for Hulk to get a better view of his surroundings, and right now his surroundings were basically Thor. And Hulk being Hulk, well, he kind of had a _thing_ for pounding on Thor as a form of entertainment. Tony had just enough time to catch the sight of Hulk grinning while Thor picked himself up off the ground, and then they were tussling like a pair of oversized Rottweilers at a dog park.

Loki just stood back, catching his breath, and watched for a few seconds. Tony heard the crack of another bullet, but this one just hit another one of Loki's force fields and shattered into so much lead glitter… which meant Widow had nothing to do until Loki showed up to try and light the beacon. Tony only hoped the guy would show her enough respect to grant her a good brawl, too. The way they both moved, that would be something to see.

Tony startled at the pulsing hum of one of the Asgard skiffs, floating in for a landing right behind him. Three people immediately hopped out and began jogging toward the fight, and Tony remembered what Loki had said right before this little shindig had started. They didn't look like military officials, and they weren't uniform enough to be what passed for police. So these must be Thor's frat bros. And sis.

Tony immediately hopped out in front of them, hands up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you guys think you're going?"

The huge guy with the beard looked a little sheepish, but the other two didn't seem too keen on listening to the puny human. One of them, the woman, glowered at him. "Stand aside, mortal," she said, "this is not your fight."

"Excuse you, it very much _is_ my fight, since that's the whole reason I'm here _,_ and I'm pretty sure you guys are the ones who are trying to interfere. Or did you not get the message to stay out of this while we sparred?"

"You call this a spar?" snorted the woman, and then the Asian-looking guy spoke up.

"Loki broke the rules. We must stop him."

"Uh, no, he hasn't, and I'd like to know who voted you guys in as judges in the first place."

"We were informed," said the woman flatly. "The terms were that Loki would use no deadly force against you. But he broke those rules when he summoned some sort of rock troll to attack Thor, and now we must kill it before it kills him."

Oh, that was _it._

"I've got news for you, babe: that 'troll' is my _friend,_ Loki _didn't_ summon him, and if any of you so much as lays a _finger_ on him, _I will end you myself._ " He crossed his arms and met their glares with a disgusted sneer of his own. "Or maybe you already knew that, and you're just looking for an excuse to take down Thor's kid brother and get away with it. You strike me as the type to hold a grudge."

"I told you," said someone new, and Tony glanced over to see a blond guy still inside the skiff, arms folded casually on the rim of the hull. "I told you coming down here was a bad idea, but you all persist in believing that I am too pretty to take seriously."

"Even prettier than Warrior Babe here?" Tony couldn't help but ask. The look on Xena's face was totally worth the potential risk to life and limb.

"Oh, by far," said the blond. He slid one arm down off the edge of the boat long enough to give a lazy salute, fist to his chest. "I am called Fandral, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all of you for your patience while I worked on this chapter. Action is HARD. And I spent forever trying to think of how and when to incorporate the Warriors, and then they just showed up at a time that made perfect sense for them, and I went, oh, okay. Please let me know what you think of the pacing.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki takes on the Hulk, and Tony learns something about Loki's core values.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay, all, and thank you for the massive response to the last chapter. You are all wonderful. A lot of commentary on Thor's behavior and Sif's character showed up in your reviews; I encourage you to read my responses there if you are interested in my rationale for how they both behave. And again, you are all wonderful.

Tony stood there with his arms folded, staring them down, until the big guy with the beard spoke up. "Fandral is right," he said. "Sif, Hogun, cover each other while you retrieve the archer; I shall collect the shield-bearer." He turned back toward Tony. "It seemed wisest to remove your friends from danger, whether we engaged your, er, large friend or not."

Tony looked the guy over and thought about it before shrugging. "Yeah, probably not a bad idea. But leave the other three alone. We all came down here to prove a point to each other, and if the fight gets interrupted, we'll just have to start all over again."

"And what point was that?" asked the woman—was she Sif or Hogun?—and Tony rolled his eyes, adding a little extra dose of obnoxiousness for the fun of it.

"Loki never really tried to take over the Earth, _duh_ ," he said. "Basically, he lost because he wanted to."

Xena snorted again and started to speak, but Tony cut her off. "Gonna stand here and argue, or are you gonna do what you're told?"

Ooh, that was pretty good death-glare. Tony had seen worse and was more or less immune to shows of intimidation by this point, so it was kind of a waste of effort on her part, but he could still give points for execution. Asian Dude finally broke their little standoff by nudging her shoulder, and the two of them went jogging off toward Clint's position, while Big Beard headed toward Cap. Tony watched for a second to make sure the first pair actually skirted the fight and didn't try to involve themselves in it instead.

"Are they always that full of themselves?" he asked Fandral, who shrugged and stepped out of the skiff.

"They believe Loki betrayed their trust," he replied, as he knelt and started to gather pieces of Tony's armor into a little pile. "It is more complicated than that, of course. He was their friend, and then he was mad, and then he was dead, and then he was mad and evil, and then he died honorably when they least expected it of him, and now here he is alive again yet fighting Thor. They aren't quite sure how to think of him anymore."

"You don't seem quite as conflicted," Tony pointed out. He flipped a piece of his torso armor over and started filling it with smaller bits of the suit.

Fandral sighed. "Loki was my friend for centuries. He didn't always explain his motives, so it was hard to trust whatever they might be at any given moment, but he never failed to guard our backs in a fight. I have far more good memories of our time together than bad, and I am not so willing to throw all that away without trying to understand what happened."

"And do you? Understand, I mean?"

The other guy chuckled sadly. "Not even a little." He stopped what he was doing and looked across the battlefield at Loki. "Every time I have wanted to ask, he's ended up dead."

Loki had spotted the skiff, and the other three of Thor's friends, and was sneering at them so impressively Tony could almost smell the disgust from two blocks away. He lifted his knives and followed Sif and Hogun with his eyes, but when the others steered clear he seemed willing not to engage them.

Thor and the Hulk had continued to tumble and tussle together while all this was going on, and Loki had left them to it while he took a breather; now that Thor's buddies had shown up, however, he looked like he was getting ready to head back on out to the dance floor. He waited and watched as Sif and Hogun crouched low and ducked a little flying debris, made their way over to Clint and hoisted him over Asian Dude's shoulder (to Barton's vocal protest), and started making their way back toward the skiff. On the other side, the guy with the beard was already on his way back with Cap over his shoulder. Score one for Asgard super-strength; Tony knew for a fact that Cap weighed more than a typical human being of his size, but Big Beard was carrying him like he was a little kid at a family reunion.

"Hey guys," called Tony, when they were all in range. "How's tricks?"

"Just wonderful," said Cap, from over Beard Guy's shoulder, who stepped onto the skiff and set Steve down carefully to sit, limply, against the side of the hull. "Man, that was a hell of a fight."

"Glad to know you were having fun," said Tony. He and Fandral stepped aboard with all his armor, followed by Sif and Hogun (and seriously, which one was which, it was irritating). They were not quite as careful with Clint, but given the low level muttering Tony could hear before they set him down, that wasn't too surprising.

"Doin' all right there, Legolas?"

Barton glared at them all and curled his legs up. "I _told_ them I could walk. My arms are still full of pins and needles, but my legs are fine."

"You could not have moved out of the way quickly enough if the battle came toward us," said Asian Dude.

" _And_ you left my bow behind," added Clint.

"We could not find it," said Xena, rolling her eyes. "It seems men on every realm are attached to their weapons."

"We'll go back and look for it once they're done," promised Tony. He caught Fandral's eye. "So what's the plan?"

"We will observe from the skiff while they conclude their battle, and retrieve anyone who is taken out of combat," Fandral said. He suited word to deed and lifted the skiff off the ground smoothly.

"You'll want to keep out of range," said Tony. "The Hulk can jump and he likes to swat things out of the air." He took entirely too much pleasure out of the looks on the four frat bros' faces.

"So noted," said Fandral. He brought the skiff around, and those who could watched Hulk and Thor continue to pummel one another. Loki began to circle around the pair, although he kept an eye on the skiff too. "As I recall, you have one more warrior waiting for Loki on the roof of yon structure, near the signal beacon, correct? We will be able to fly up and observe their battle as well."

"And stop Loki if he tries to cheat," said the woman.

"You know what, I can see why he doesn't like you," said Tony. She didn't actually sound like she was looking _forward_ to stopping Loki, but damn. Way to have faith in a guy. At least the human contingent had good reasons to expect the worst out of him.

"You know nothing of my feelings toward him," she retorted. "We trusted him at our backs, gave him our trust, yet he threw away our friendship and committed treason the moment Thor was banished."

"Not the way I heard it," shrugged Tony. "And you were _awfully_ quick to jump to conclusions the minute he did something you didn't like. Did you even stop to ask if he needed help before running off to fetch your playmate home?"

"He usurped the throne readily enough without any assistance."

"No, he didn't," said Steve, pulling his legs up with a wince.

"Unless by 'usurped' you mean 'was handed the scepter in front of witnesses when there was no one else to do the job'," put in Tony.

Steve eyed the four Aesir skeptically. "Just because you weren't there to see it happen doesn't automatically mean it was some underhanded scheme on his part."

Asian Dude frowned at them. "Why do you defend him?"

"Why don't you?" demanded Steve. "Weren't you supposed to be his friends?"

"Sif is right," said Asian Dude, which must mean he was Hogun. _Finally_. "You know nothing of the events which led him into madness and death."

"Except we kinda do," Clint spoke up next, flexing his hands as the feeling began to return. "Did you not see the big glass statue up on the observation deck? Thought you guys all knew about the Norns. The Three Sisters of Yggdrasil, right? Way I heard it, they're kind of a big deal." He squirmed into a more comfortable position, squinting up at them. "She—they—verified and confirmed every single thing Loki told us today."

Sif, Hogun, and Fandral all shared a glance between them. "Odin did not mention that," said Fandral finally.

There was an especially loud crash below them, as the Hulk threw Thor into a wall. Tony leaned over the side for a better look; Big Thunder was still in the fight, but he was getting up a little more slowly than usual. Tony predicted that Loki would make his move soon.

The guy with the beard took a quick glance at the byplay, then dismissed it. "Hmpf," he said. "And why should the All-Father include us in his confidences, hm? We are not central to the continued functioning of Asgard."

Clint snorted. "Yeah, we got to listen to the guy go out of his way to say nothing that would be at all useful or helpful, the whole time we were in there."

"Clint is right," said Steve. He began hoisting himself to his feet, and Sif proved she wasn't completely horrible by being quick to get under his arm and help. "I realize he's your king and all, but Odin spent almost the entire time trying to defend and justify some… pretty horrible behavior. Nearly every time it looked like Loki might have a good point about something, or any of the rest of us for that matter, Odin would just shut his mouth and try to stare us all down, rather than bend enough to admit he wasn't completely right about absolutely everything."

"And we've been stared down by way scarier than him," said Tony. "Telling you about the Norns and why they were really here? Please. That might have put you in a more _charitable mood_ toward Loki. Can't have that."

Fandral ran one hand through his hair as he guided the skiff in a wide circle around the battlefield. "And we were a little too occupied with the news that Loki is alive, again, to think to ask."

Yeah, that was something of a pattern for these guys, and Tony was betting that Odin knew how to manipulate it to his advantage, too. Whatever. He leaned against the rim and looked down on the fight, and Steve and Clint joined him a moment later.

"Guy knows how to fight, I'll give him that," said Hawkeye.

"You're not kidding," said Steve. "Fast. Faster than Thor."

"Opportunist, too," said Barton, and indicated the scene below with his chin.

Thor and the Hulk's fight had been wide ranging, with Thor either wrestling with Jolly Green or else trying to get airborne to get an assist from gravity with some of his hits. Unfortunately for him, the Hulk could jump, just like Tony had warned Fandral, and all they really ended up doing was playing an extremely rough-and-tumble version of Tag, with a side order of massive property damage. Through it all, Loki had simply stood off to the side—well, or appeared to, he could have done that invisibility thing and used this as an _excellent_ distraction while he went up to the Widow's post again—and calmly sidestepped any flying debris as he watched the battle.

Now, though, he made his move, just as Tony had predicted, and as Barton pointed out, it was an attack of opportunity. The Hulk threw one of the car-cubes at Thor, and the impact sent them both flying to within a few feet of where Loki was standing; before Thor could get to his feet, Loki simply stepped up to him, knelt down, and drew his hand across Thor's throat (thankfully, without a knife that Tony could see). Thor dropped, and they all saw Loki pat him on the cheek; if Tony had to guess, he'd assume there was at least one condescending remark thrown in for good measure.

Loki stood, and faced the Hulk, and then there were two.

"He's not actually gonna go toe-to-toe," began Steve.

"He said he wanted to make a point," shrugged Tony, though he was a little concerned too.

"The guy's insane, but he can't be that insane," said Clint.

But no, apparently he was, because he just walked toward the Hulk, looking completely nonchalant from this angle, and when Jolly Green spotted him, he _put his knives away._ Like, made an obvious show of it: exaggerated his motions, moved slowly, kept his hands where the Hulk could see them, all of that. His one concession to sanity, as far as Tony could tell, was that he came in on a curving path, so that the Hulk was forced to turn his back on Thor if he wanted to keep Loki in his sights. Fandral did something to make the skiff run even more quietly than usual, and brought them in slowly, about half a block away from Thor.

Hulk roared and leaped at Loki, a standing jump that brought him down hard enough to rattle nearby debris; but when he brought his fist down to smash, he encountered another one of those dome shields, protecting the other man. It flickered, and Loki grimaced a little at the impact, but it held. Hulk pounded on it a few more times for good measure, but the dome just flickered with each hit, and kept Hulk out.

"You can't hurt me," they heard Loki say calmly. Hulk roared and tried again. "But I also cannot hurt you."

That seemed to confuse Hulk a bit, the notion that there was something he wasn't going to have to go all rage monster on. But only a little bit. "You kill friends!" he said, and pounded on the shield some more.

"We were fighting," said Loki. Yeah, probably best not to try and explain to the enormous walking id that this whole exercise had just been pretend. "When you fight, sometimes you hurt people, yes? But only to protect yourself. Is that not so?"

Again, Hulk seemed uncertain what to make of this encounter; he growled, and began pacing back and forth in a tight circle around Loki's dome. Back on the skiff, Thor's three buddies minus Fandral hopped out onto the ground, as quietly as heavily armored people could, and at a hand signal from Sif, they all began moving toward Thor's position. They crouched low and tried to stay out of Hulk's line of sight as much as possible, using the imaginary sidewalk between the buildings and the car-cubes.

Loki, meanwhile, just waited him out, and after a little while, Hulk started trying to grab the dome instead of hitting it. "Protect friends," he said after a bit. "You hurt friends. You come out. Hulk smash."

"Yes, you have smashed me before now," they heard Loki say. "We have fought once before, in the past. Do you remember me?"

Hulk snorted. They could see the sneer on his face, and it was an impressive sneer. "Puny god."

"Yes, that's right," said Loki. "We fought then, and you won. You are very strong. But I am not fighting now." The next time Hulk put a hand on the dome, Loki reached up and put his hand on the same spot. "You see? You cannot hurt me, and I cannot hurt you. There is no fight here."

Hulk had startled, actually startled, when Loki reached up, but when nothing happened, he put his hand back on the dome. His entire focus was on Loki, and Tony could see him struggling to understand.

And then there was a crack of gunfire—oh shit, _Natasha_ , trying to disrupt Loki's attempts to beguile the Hulk. Hulk jumped up and roared, but the bullet hit another of Loki's shields before it could touch him. The shield flashed brightly, maybe a little theatrically given what Tony had seen before, and Hulk reached out to touch it.

"You see?" said Loki. "I will not hurt you, and I will not let anyone else do so, either. That happens a lot, doesn't it?" he went on, head tilted, his hand still on the dome. "People try to hurt you. Is there no one who even tries to speak to you, when you are here? When you come out from Doctor Banner's mind? Or are they too afraid?"

Hulk bared his teeth, and Loki immediately said, "But I am not afraid. Even after we fought, and you defeated me, I am still here, willing to speak with you, if you allow it."

Hulk glared at Loki for a long moment, and Tony realized he was holding his breath; even the other Aesir were frozen in the act of lifting Thor over the bearded guy's shoulder.

Then, with a heavy thud, Hulk sat down, and Tony's jaw dropped.

"Thank you," said Loki.

And then he dropped the fucking shield.

Hulk watched it fall in a shimmer of green-gold light, then looked at Loki, just standing there, calm as you please… and it occurred to Tony in that moment that Loki being the god of chaos didn't always mean that he caused crazy violent shit to happen. It meant that his home, the place he was happiest, was on the razor's edge between success and failure. The eye of the hurricane. The place where all the least likely probabilities converged, and he could have a hand in influencing which way events fell out.

The thing with Thanos? Damaged past the point of sanity, yet still trying to sabotage the people who by rights should have left him gibbering in terror. Impersonating his own father and taking the throne, where discovery could mean an actual, literal civil war. Yeah, he was off his game the first time he was given the royal scepter, but the rest? Chaotic math. Iterations, and layers. Actual chaos, violence, whatever, those were just _warmup exercises_ for him. By the time circumstances had played out that far, Loki was just looking at results, rather than dancing on the edge. And it just wasn't about sitting back and enjoying the outcome, or at least not most of the time, not for him. By the time events had reached that stage, Loki was no longer in the middle of things—he'd let go of the probabilities and was watching them sweep past, and maybe already looking around for another game to get involved in.

All of this hit Tony like the hand of God, leaving him breathless with the power of a really great epiphany, the best Eureka moment he'd had in ages. Meanwhile, Loki was still standing there in front of a Hulk, still talking.

"May I show you something?" he was asking. "It is a new thing, and I know that you have little cause to trust the unknown. But you have already seen that I will not hurt you."

"New," said the Hulk.

"Yes," said Loki. "Made of light. About this large." He held his hands apart about the size of a beach ball. "Do you want to see it?"

Hulk narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but again, Loki just stood there calmly and waited. "Show," he said finally.

"Of course. I keep it here…" He brought his hands together as if cupping an invisible flame. "And then it grows." He spread his hands gradually, and some sort of swirling globe filled the space, expanding as he moved his hands further apart. "Do you see it?"

Hulk was actually tilting his head back and forth to get a better look. "Spins," he said.

"It does, a little, yes," said Loki. "You may touch it if you wish. It cannot hurt you. What you see here is all it does."

Hulk considered, and apparently came to the conclusion that if it wasn't hurting Loki, it wouldn't hurt him either, because he reached out and poked it with one massive green finger. The light inside the globe swirled a little more, but that was it.

"Do you wish to hold it?" asked Loki; Hulk held out one hand, and Loki gently placed the globe in it.

Hulk smiled, and it wasn't his usual bloodthirsty grin, either. He held the glow ball in one hand and kept poking and touching it with the other, making the light inside swirl in different directions.

Little by little, he began to relax, and his eyes grew sleepy looking, and he started to fixate more and more on the… _ohhh_ , okay, on the _hypnotic swirling lights_ in the ball. His free hand dropped to his lap and he held the ball closer to his face, blinking every now and again until his eyes started to stay closed more than they were open.

About ten seconds later, he started to shrink, and the glow ball fell out of Bruce's hand and floated to Loki, who made it disappear before catching Bruce as he slumped sideways, unconscious. He lowered Bruce gently to the ground; then with another gesture, he covered him in a loose brown robe with wide sleeves.

"Ho-ly shit," said Clint in awe.

Steve and Tony said, "Yeah," simultaneously and in equal tones of wonder.

"Loki Silvertongue, indeed," said Sif quietly. Tony had been so absorbed in what Loki was doing that he'd never even noticed them coming back to the skiff with Thor. "Many times has he coaxed a foe into setting aside his quarrel, but this… I do not think I have ever seen the like."

"His skill has grown," said Hogun.

Loki turned to where they were all staring at him with their _minds completely blown_ , and indicated Bruce with a sharp tilt of his head, before turning away and beginning to walk toward the building where Black Widow waited. And if Tony caught a little smirk on the edge of his face as he turned away, well, couldn't really blame him.

Walking the razor's edge and loving it. Tony was betting that if they asked him later, Loki would say that this was his favorite fight of the whole battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the terrific response to last chapter, and for your patience while I let this one percolate in my head. You are all wonderful. I needed to figure out where it was going to go, and it ended up mostly along the path I had thought it would but not quite. I'm pretty happy with it, though.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Natasha and Loki square off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't justify making Natasha's fight a "boss battle" the way some people were hoping for, after Loki took down the Hulk, but I'm still pretty damn happy with what I did with her instead.

Loki had a head start, but the skiff was faster, so they got Bruce aboard and headed toward the beacon with plenty of time to spare.

"Will he not be dangerous when he wakes?" asked Sif.

"No," said all the other Avengers in the skiff. "Friend Banner possesses a gentle soul," Thor added, and his friends all looked at him in disbelief. "'Tis true, my friends! He prefers his studies of healing to combat, and avoids bringing his other self forth unless the need is great."

They still looked skeptical, but Hogun moved away from where he'd been not-so-subtly standing guard over Bruce. Tony just rolled his eyes at him, and enjoyed the scowl he got back in return.

Fandral brought them up alongside the building where Natasha was waiting; she stepped over to them, though Tony noticed she still kept an eye on the staircase where Loki was expected to appear. "How's Bruce?" was the first thing she asked.

"Just waking up," Clint said quietly. "I'd give him another minute or so."

Widow nodded. "Did I really see Loki talk him down?"

"Guy's a nutcase…" said Clint, shaking his head.

"…But yeah," finished Steve. "It was… well, it was somethin' else, that's for sure."

"I plan to ask him about that glowing ball he used, later," said Tony.

"Glowing ball?" came Bruce's voice, blurred with fatigue. Tony watched him sit up, looking more than a little hungover, and touch the hem of his sleeve. The robe Loki had magicked onto him looked like it was made of brown silk, with gold embroidery along the borders. "Oh. This is nice… Did I hurt anybody?"

Thor's friends stared at him incredulously; maybe they'd been expecting him to just grunt incoherently or something.

"Told ya," said Tony. "May I present Doctor Bruce Banner, one of the most brilliant minds on our world, and I include me in that statement. Man's a genius. You know, when he's not recovering from a big green rampage." He didn't even try to hide his smug look when they all just gaped at him. "How you doin', big guy?"

Bruce rubbed tired hands across his face and through his hair. "Oh, you know," he said, blinking sleepily. "I could… a nap, and maybe a… a cheeseburger, or something."

"What, no tofu?"

Bruce rolled his eyes and gave a lopsided smile. "You didn't answer my question."

"Nay, friend Banner," said Thor, still paralyzed on the floor of the skiff, "no one was injured, for Loki contrived to distract your other self from the majority of the battle. I was the only opponent to truly fight you, and it was a grand encounter indeed."

"How'd you stop me?"

"He didn't," said Tony. "Loki did. It looks like Big and Green might have made a new friend with Skinny and Green."

Bruce took that in, blinking like an owl in the sun. "You're kidding."

"Nope."

"So are we done yet?" Bruce asked, pulling himself upright, a little wobbly, and leaning against the side of the skiff.

"He hasn't faced Widow yet," said Steve, "so technically the fight is still on."

Natasha shifted her weight uneasily. "I don't think I've got anything to compete with him," she said. "Fight-wise, I mean. Even going head-to-head, Loki was keeping up with _Thor_. You might not remember it, Bruce, but there was a space where he took on all three of you on the ground after he got Iron Man, with Hawkeye keeping him contained from above. A plain human like me?" Widow blew out a breath and adjusted her grip on her guns. "At least this will be over quickly."

"And then we can go get a beer," said Clint, to pretty much everyone's tired agreement. Including, hilariously, still-paralyzed Thor.

"Yeah, I don't think the Norns are big partiers," Tony reminded them. The tired grumbling at that statement sounded almost identical to the tired agreement about the beer.

"We should pull back," said Steve to Fandral. "Loki should be up the stairs any minute, and we're not supposed to interfere. Plus I don't want to distract Widow."

"Please," she said with a smile, turning back toward the beacon. "Hulk is distracting. You're just a grumpy old man."

"Back in _my_ day…" Steve began, and she threw a grin over her shoulder. "You kids get off my lawn!" he added as they pulled away, and they heard her laugh.

"Inside joke," explained Tony to the Aesir.

Fandral guided the skiff a little higher, then around to the side of the building with the stairs. Loki was most of the way to the top, and he paused to glare at them until he spotted Tony, waving his fingers at him, _toodle-oo_ , like a little old lady. Then he just rolled his eyes, smirked, and kept climbing.

"He looks well," said the guy with the beard.

"He bears new scars, Volstagg," said Thor quietly; Beard Guy turned to look down at him. "And I think he still has not fully recovered from his time in the Void."

Yeah, that gave them something to think about, judging by the looks on their faces.

"Guys, show's about to start," said Clint.

Thor started grumbling that he wanted to see, still fighting off the paralysis spell, and Sif and the bearded guy, Volstagg or whatever, lifted him up. Just in time, too, because as soon as Loki's head cleared the roofline, Nat started shooting.

Loki ducked the first shot, probably more out of surprise than anything, because after that he just kept walking and Tony got to watch as the bullets just pinged off of his armor. Natasha was smart, and mostly aimed for his head, but even there the bullets didn't land because Loki had one of those force field things going.

By the time he was standing on the roof, he was smiling. "By all means," he said, "feel free to 'get it out of your system', as they say."

Thanks to the bullets she'd fired earlier, the clip in one gun emptied first, so Natasha dropped it and reached for something on her belt. The Widow's Bite landed near Loki's feet and sent arcs of electricity across the metal floor as well as up his lower leg, but… yeah. Thor had already been throwing actual lightning bolts around and Loki had managed to shield against that. Maybe she was hoping to catch him off guard or something.

It was a good thought; Loki did actually grimace a little and glance down as the Bite did its thing. Nat used the moment of distraction to get in another couple of head shots, but Loki's shield still held. And then, just to piss her off probably, he gloved his hand in green energy, bent down, and picked up the Bite.

"An intriguing device," he said, turning it over curiously. "Perhaps if I hadn't had so much practice dealing with my brother's power."

"Worth a try," said Natasha.

"Indeed. As is this." He pulled a little throwing dagger and flung it at Natasha's throat. Tony jerked forward, eyes wide—what could he say, he was never going to just _get used to_ incredibly realistic fake attempts on his friends' lives—but Natasha ducked backward, catching the blade in one hand and using the momentum to spin and throw it back at Loki.

Who only barely managed to sidestep in time, raising his eyebrow at her as he did. Well. That was interesting.

"Impressive," said Loki. Then he strode in quickly, and they were off.

Given how fast Thor was and how much faster Loki had been, Tony was pretty sure Loki was holding back, but even so…

"How is Widow keeping up with him?" he asked quietly, leaning over toward Clint.

Hawkeye gave him an unhappy sideways glance, and said nothing, which was even _more_ interesting.

The two of them traded ninja moves for a couple of minutes, knife-hands and elbow strikes and blocks like something out of the Matrix movies; Natasha pulling a blade of her own, Loki blocking it and disarming her; Loki hooking a leg behind her, Nat using the momentum to pull him down. He tumbled past her and back to his feet, grinning. She aimed a kick at his head but he caught her ankle; he tried to wrench her off-balance but she leaped into the air and did that signature _I-am-Black-Widow-and-I-can-kill-you-with-my-thighs-but-what-a-way-to-go_ thing that she had.

Loki, being inhuman (in so, _so_ many ways) and possessed of inhuman strength, did not go down with a broken neck or a crushed windpipe. He went down laughing, and instead of trying to pry her legs off his neck, he wrapped his hands around them and held Widow in place. She sat up aiming a knife for his eye, and he simply rolled, quickly enough that she lost her aim and he could swat the knife out of her hand before they stopped, placing her underneath him with his face… well, they made movies that _featured_ that position, Tony would leave it at that.

Loki looked up, still grinning. "My lady, are we fighting or engaging in some other more entertaining contest?"

Widow, being Widow, wriggled under him in ways that Tony would freely admit he'd thought about more than once, back when she'd just been Natalie Rushman. "I thought I was just a 'mewling quim'."

"That was very rude of me, I admit, but you must agree I was having something of a bad day at the time." His eyes flicked down at her… everything, and back up.

Widow… _undulated_ , there was no other word for it, and her face went all soft, and Tony thought to himself that the come-hither look on her face had probably been the last thing that a lot of people had ever seen.

Loki put both his hands on the ground and pushed himself forward, sliding up her body to gaze into her eyes. Tony watched as she smiled… and, out of Loki's sight, reached for another weapon on her belt.

"Ahh, my lady…" Loki purred.

"Yes?" Her hand was slipping another blade free, only the length of her finger, thin as a razor blade and twice as sharp.

"If only you were of the correct species for your wiles to have any effect on me whatsoever." He shoved himself into a backward roll quickly enough that she could do no more than graze the armor along his side. He came up into a crouch and smirked at her, the fingertips of one hand balancing him against the roof, while Natasha just sat up looking annoyed. "Though I admit you are quite lovely for a human, I fear I must confess that the thought of exploring the more intimate pleasures with one of your kind is," he wrinkled his nose delicately, "somewhat distasteful."

Yep, that was her annoyed look, all right. To be fair, it was nearly unheard-of for someone not to be seduced by the Black Widow when she was putting in an honest effort to seduce them. "Thor doesn't seem to have any problem with us," she pointed out, flipping to her feet.

"Yes, well, _Thor_ is an oversexed deviant who was once worshiped by your ancestors as a _fertility_ god." Next to Tony, Clint snorted and almost choked from trying not to laugh and distract Natasha. And wow, that was a sardonic eyebrow on Loki's face if ever Tony had seen one. And he should know, he'd raised that eyebrow (heh) to an art form.

The two of them began to circle on another warily. "Those same myths claim you once had sex with a horse."

Tony had sort of expected him to sneer, but instead Loki stopped dead and smiled in absolute delight. "They still tell that one?" Nat took advantage of his pause to fling the little dagger right at his eye, but he literally, actually did the kung-fu-master thing where he zipped his hand up in front of his face and _caught it_ between two fingers, the others curled into his palm like he was blessing Jesus or whatever. Then, as if he hadn't just been interrupted with an attempt on his life, he simply asked, "Who do you think made those stories up in the first place?"

"Jealous of your brother's legendary status in the sack?" Loki mock-pouted (or maybe it was real, hell, it wasn't like Tony knew the guy); Natasha just rolled her eyes. "So you think humans are _icky_."

"I find you interesting enough," Loki shrugged, "certainly more so than I find most of the rest of Asgard. And as I said, I suppose you are aesthetically pleasing, but as for carnal relations…"

Then he darted forward, almost too fast to be believed, until he was standing pressed against Natasha with his arm around her waist, offering her blade back to her with his free hand. "On the other hand, I _am_ regarded as a genocidal lunatic, so who knows what other perversities I might indulge?"

Natasha just gave him an unimpressed look, and then matter-of-factly pepper sprayed him, right in the eyes.

And shot a little up his nose, too, for good measure.

Clint whooped, "Fuck yeah, get 'im, Widow!" as Steve and a couple of Thor's friends started laughing. Even Bruce had a bit of a grin on his face, although he was trying to hide it.

Thor, on the other hand, looked seriously worried. "Is that poison?" he demanded. "Has the lady Natasha murdered my brother?"

"Nah, big guy," Tony was quick to reassure him. "It's an irritant, made from hot peppers. You've eaten those, right?"

"The burning fruit, yes? On your night of the tacos."

"Yeah. Imagine that, only in your eyes. It doesn't cause any damage, just hurts like a bitch."

Loki had staggered back, wheezing and with his eyes squinched shut. He was clearly in pain, one hand clawing toward his face and just barely holding himself back from rubbing it in, but he was also laughing. Well, kinda. "Well done, la—lady," he said, in between coughs. "This—brings back memories."

"You've had your eyes burned before?" and that sobered Tony right up, thinking about the legend with the rocks and the serpents and the venom, and earthquakes every time the god writhed in agony. He'd already seen a couple earthquakes today.

"Nothing so dire," he rasped. "Pestering Thor—until he cau—caused me intense p-pain, however…" Four doubles sprang into existence around him, and he oriented himself in the middle, still choking a little. "I hadn't planned to—actually kill you."

Natasha raised an eyebrow and her gun at that, but before she could aim one of the Loki doubles waved his arm and the weapon went flying, skidding clear off the roof.

The real Loki could apparently see whatever his doubles saw, because even with his eyes still shut tight, he lurched over toward the beacon. Natasha ran at him, maybe hoping to just bodily tackle him out of the way, but that personal shield of his had already popped up and she bounced off it hard. She turned the fall into a rollout, and came up rubbing at her shoulder, as Loki shuffled the rest of the way over until he was touching the beacon.

"You admire cruelty," one of the doubles said; the real Loki coughed and wheezed some more, and Tony heard Bruce mutter in concern, something about inflamed airways. "If this were real, perhaps I would leave you alive to watch as your world was destroyed."

Real Loki made a sweeping circular gesture over his face, and Tony saw a reddish mist pull away from his skin. He tried to open his eyes, then thought better of it and made the gesture again.

"For whose life would you bargain now, Agent Romanov?" another double asked. "Your companions are all dead. What information would you hope to extract? What games of the mind would you attempt to play?"

Nat just glared at him. Them. Tony remembered the way the doubles had dissolved into sparks at a touch, back in the palace, but Widow clearly wasn't taking anything for granted.

"Of course," said a third, "if this were real, it would be tactically quite foolish to leave you alive. You would likely attempt to communicate with your superiors, coordinate the defense, arrange a counterattack. So I most likely would end you after all. You have proven more than once that it is unwise to underestimate you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," said Natasha.

"As well you should." While the third Loki double was talking, the fourth appeared behind her and lifted his hands, caressing along the sides of her neck. If his hands had been solid, he would have looked like he was trying to pull her hair back, or running his fingers through it: an intimate gesture. There was a flicker of light, the double's hands shimmering wherever it made contact with her; Natasha stiffened with a sudden shiver, eyes going wide.

"However," said the double gently, "you would still be quite dead."

Nat didn't move.

"Tash?" called Clint. She didn't answer.

"It will wear off in a few more heartbeats," said one of the Loki doubles, as the one behind her dissolved into sparks. "Our game is over, I saw no point to leaving her to wait out the paralysis spell."

And in fact, no sooner had he said that than Widow blinked, shivered again, and whirled. The double that had been behind her was gone, and the others were dissolving into sparks as they watched, leaving only Loki leaning against the beacon, still coughing occasionally and beginning to blink painfully. Natasha took in the scene quickly, eyes darting back and forth, before turning back toward the skiff. "How long was I—how long did—"

"Only about five seconds," said Bruce. "Less than ten, anyway."

She nodded. Paused. "Felt like longer." Turned back around to look at Loki.

"Did you see anything of interest?" he asked. His voice was still on the wheezy side.

Natasha paused longer. "None of your business," she said, and Loki nodded. Well, didn't that just perk Tony's curiosity right up?

"Of course." Loki coughed again. "Incidentally, was this meant to be fatal?"

"It isn't usually," she said neutrally, "but it will inflame the airway, sinuses, throat… basically anything it comes in contact with. If you're prone to respiratory trouble, it can cause some real problems."

"Hence making sure it entered those passages, I presume."

If Tony didn't know better, he'd almost say that the Black Widow looked _embarrassed._ "Force of habit," she said. "I don't… you don't live as long, playing fair."

Loki finally managed to peel his eyes open for more than a second or two; he looked up at her with tears streaming down his cheeks and a rueful smile. "I know," he said, " _exactly_ what you mean."

"I'm not apologizing," said Widow.

"Why would you? I earned that entirely."

He reached around to light the beacon, and beside him, Tony heard Clint say, "Aww, beacon, no."

Nothing happened.

He tried again, but the beacon still didn't light. Loki frowned a little and Tony immediately flashed back to that time in his tower, the scepter, _"This usually works,"_ and the follow-up to that. He couldn't help it; he started to snicker, while Natasha stood there and looked smug.

"You didn't think I was just going to stand up here and wait, did you?" She folded her arms and shifted her weight. "Let you boys have all the fun?"

Loki looked up at her in realization, then began to grin. Puffy eyes and nose, tears still pouring down his face, and squinting at her from the pepper spray, and he still looked like he was having a blast. "What did you use?" he asked.

Natasha shrugged. "Too late to ask now, you already killed me." He shook his head at her, still looking entirely too amused for a guy who had just had his invasion thwarted, after kicking literally everybody else's ass to get up here.

Of course, that was the moment that Thor's friends in the skiff caught on, and started laughing too. Then his face went absolutely flat, and even with the puffiness, he looked like someone Tony emphatically did not want to cross. Even more so than he had during the invasion.

Fandral was the first to stop laughing. "Uh-oh," said he and Clint, pretty much at the same time, and that finally got the other Aesir's attention and shut them up.

Loki didn't say anything, or even look over at the skiff. He just sat on the floor beside the beacon, blinking the last of the tears out of his eyes, and passed one hand over the top of it. A couple of different things lit up around the beacon, and Loki cocked his head; there was a little finger-wiggle here and a gesture there, followed by a twist like Tony had seen when his armor got dismantled, and then Loki reached up, hit the button or whatever, and turned on the light. Took less than thirty seconds.

"Aww, beacon, no," said Clint again.

Loki stood, brushing a little dust off his sleeves. "A valiant effort, my lady."

Natasha's mouth twisted, but she shrugged in resignation. "Worth a try."

And that was that. Loki won.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki has words with the W4 and Tony gets his suit back.

Fandral brought the skiff back down to land on the roof, and everybody piled out (except Bruce, who looked perfectly content to stay where he was and rest his eyes a bit). Loki looked at them at first as though he might have to gear up for another fight, then relaxed when he spotted Tony and Clint—one without his bow, and the other still possessed of a pile of spare parts rather than a functioning suit.

It was a little crowded and chaotic, although the roof of the fake building did have enough space for all of them. People were all talking at once, to where Tony couldn't really keep track of much; Steve and Clint were congratulating Nat on a good fight while Thor wobbled over to Loki with a grin on his face. Thor's pals hung back a little, although Sif was trying to introduce herself to Natasha. Tony's first impression was that no good could come of that meeting for anybody else, whether it went well for the two of them or not.

"That was well fought, brother!" Thor exclaimed. "Truly, you were not joking when you said you would be sure to make it interesting for me."

"Well, I have seen you when you are bored," said Loki; he managed to sound light and carefree even with the puffy eyes and runny nose. "You _pout_. It is appalling. I could not be responsible for inflicting that on your mortal friends." He sniffled, then winced in pain. Yeah, Nat didn't carry the friendly, consumer-grade pepper spray. Tony was pretty sure even the police stuff wasn't as strong as hers.

"Damn, Nat," said Hawkeye admiringly, "you were the only one to even leave a mark on him."

"Perhaps not the only one," corrected Loki, which, magnanimous of him, "though surely the most noticeable. You all fought admirably."

"Are you okay?" asked Steve. Loki looked at him a little suspiciously. "It's just, you're not human, for all we know that stuff could be even worse for you to deal with than it is for us."

"Ah." He waved a hand dismissively, even though we was still giving Steve the side-eye, no doubt wondering if Cap had some other motive for, you know, being nice. "I have already removed the substance so that it can no longer burn, and now I am merely waiting for the irritation to subside."

"Ha! Waiting for Loki's irritation to subside. A feeling we are all familiar with!" laughed Volstagg, stepping toward Loki with his arms open and a big smile on his face.

 _Instantly,_ Loki shut down; Tony could almost hear the doors slamming shut and the blast curtains dropping, where he'd been relatively relaxed and even almost friendly only a second before. He neatly stepped back and out of range of Volstagg's impending bear hug, to the other man's visible confusion. "What are you doing, Lord Volstagg?" he asked, his voice flat. He was looking the big guy up and down like he was some kind of bug.

"Wha— _'Lord'_ Volstagg, Loki? Really! Can't a man greet an old friend after a long absence?"

Loki raised an eyebrow coolly. "If we _were_ old friends, then certainly." Volstagg sputtered, while the rest of the rooftop grew quiet. "When last we spoke," Loki said, "you informed me that you would not hesitate to kill me should I betray my brother. Now you wish to pretend as though nothing has happened, and play at comrades-in-arms? I am afraid I am not so forgetful as you."

"I-I don't forget," stammered Volstagg, "but, but you didn't betray him." He smiled gamely, and Tony recognized someone trying to salvage a situation before it all went to hell. "You, heh, you fought by his side—with honor, by all reports! All is forgiven—"

"Forgiven?" Loki's face twisted into a snarl for the barest second before he smoothed it back out. "I gave you my friendship and my loyalty for nearly a thousand years," said Loki, his voice still flat but now with an edge of anger that he'd kept under wraps before, "and you threw it away without a moment's hesitation. You all did. Nor did you value it overmuch while you still had it. Do not imagine you can simply pick it back up again as though nothing has happened—and do not _dare_ to presume that I care in the slightest for your _forgiveness_. As if it were yours to _bestow_ in the first place."

"Oh come, now you're being unreasonab—"

"Unreasonable. Of course. Perhaps you merely have a different definition of friendship than I do. Mine includes the concept of loyalty, but perhaps I am misinterpreting."

Sif stepped forward, and while Tony didn't know her well, her face looked like a mix of annoyance and a struggle for patience. "Loki, you cannot claim to be the insulted party only because we turned away from you," she said. "You _invaded Midgard_." Her voice matched her face, more or less; it was definitely full of _can't-we-all-just-be-reasonable_ with a side order of _dammit-you-little-asshole_ thrown in.

Loki, of course, was not having any. "A realm about which the All-Father cares nothing," he sneered.

"You betrayed your oaths as a prince!"

"My _oaths?_ You dare to lecture me about _my oaths_? And what of you?" Loki spat the words at her, and Tony saw Fandral's eyes widen in surprise. "What of _your_ oaths, Lady Sif? _Thor invaded Jotunheim_ ," he said, mimicking her tone from before. "He violated a treaty and rekindled a war, and received a three-day banishment for it. _You_ committed treason, multiple times, against the All-Father and against me, and what were the consequences for _your_ actions, hm? Did you face any punishment? No, of course not! Your position as _Thor's whore_ protects you as always. You are—"

Sif lunged for Loki, no surprise there, and suddenly everybody was holding everybody back, and at least half the Aesir on the rooftop were shouting.

"You have no right!" Sif was screaming. "I have earned my place a thousand times over!"

 _"So have I!"_ Loki roared back, and there was a ripple of green that pulsed out from his body. All the Aesir, including Sif, froze in actual shock. "So have I, Sif," he said again, only barely calmer, "a place I should not have had to fight for, because I am Thor's own _brother_ , yet you made me prove myself and my loyalty to him again and again, as if I were a mere vassal like you. I was your _prince,_ just as much as he was, and yet you have the _gall_ to stand there and pretend to be my superior!

"Do I call you whore? _Yes,_ " he seethed, and as Sif started to lunge against Thor's grip again, he went on quickly. "Oh, be at ease, Lady, it has nothing to do with whether or not you spread your legs for him; I neither know nor care if you did. I name _all_ of you his whores," he said, waving an arm to encompass the rest of Thor's frat bros; "panting after him like _dogs_ —eager to lick the manure from his boots—whatever _stupid_ idea he came up with, whatever suicidal _adventure_ he took it into his head to embark upon, not one of you _ever_ had the spine to stand up and try to talk him out of it. No matter how many times he nearly got you all killed, still you came back eager for more, because there are so many _benefits_ to being the friend of the All-Father's heir—aren't there! I wasn't as _useful_ to your careers, so you did not bother to _pretend_ with me.

"Now you are all _appalled_ that I have decided to no longer bother to pretend with _you_ , yet I fail to see why. You are _not_ my friends. You may have been once, but it was _your_ choice to throw that way, and you shall _not_ have it back. You, the _lot_ of you, have committed nearly as many crimes as I have, at places and times of greater import to Asgard and the All-Father, and yet you still walk free. You are unrepentant and unredeemed, yet you seek to stand there and claim the moral high ground and grant _me_ forgiveness for my misdeeds! I paid for them more dearly than you can even hope to imagine!"

There was silence for a bit, before Volstagg cleared his throat awkwardly. "That may be true," he began, "that you have paid for your misdeeds, but… but we didn't know—"

"No," said Loki, a bit calmer. Tired, Tony thought. "You didn't. Nor did you care to ask. You never have, Volstagg, and you never, ever will. Easier by far to make your assumptions, draw your conclusions that of course _Loki_ is to blame for all misfortune, and carry on as you always have, content in your vaunted _superiority_ over the rest of us."

"We do not believe ourselves superior!"

And it would have devolved into yet another shouting match except that Steve finally stepped into the middle with his hands up. "Guys. Enough." Sif and Loki both looked mutinous, but Steve didn't wait for them to start up again. "People on Asgard live for hundreds of years, and I'm guessing you could spend the next hundred or so trying to hash out your differences—or try to shout each other down. But like it or not, now is not the time. We humans are here, on Asgard, because of the Three Sisters. From what I understand, you all think they're pretty important."

"The Three Sisters _of Yggdrasil?_ The mortals said, but…" That was Fandral asking, and Tony noticed he made a point of directing his question at Loki rather than Steve. Loki nodded, and Fandral's eyebrows went up. He cleared his throat nervously, but there was a half-smile on his face as he stared at Loki. "Only you." Loki studied him for a moment, and whatever he saw seemed to satisfy him, because he finally quit looking quite so much like a cat up a tree surrounded by barking dogs. Well, more like leopard up a tree; pissy, maybe, but also deadly dangerous.

"They gave you their names?" That was Hogun, looking considerably more skeptical, but for all Tony knew his face was just naturally stuck in that expression.

Steve nodded. "They brought us here because they wanted us to hear what they had to say to Loki, and because they wanted us to hear Loki's story, too. Which apparently no one in Asgard has ever bothered to ask for before today." Tony took great pleasure in the looks on the frat bros' faces at that. "Now, they were gracious enough to let us take a break and come out here to blow off a little steam, but that's done now, and I think we've kept them waiting long enough."

"It grows dark, in any case," said Thor. "We shall have to vacate the field, now that our spar has concluded."

"A little crowded," said Natasha, indicating the skiff with her chin.

"Thor can fly, Loki can do his disappearing thing. I _could_ fly if someone were to fix my suit like they promised," said Tony.

"You're not known for your subtlety, are you?" asked Loki. Tony went ahead and assumed that was a rhetorical question. Had the man _seen_ Tony's suit? Of course he had.

So Tony just folded his arms and looked at Loki expectantly until Loki rolled his eyes and stepped toward the skiff. Sure, he was acting all huffy, but Tony wasn't blind and he could see the little smile trying to hide in the corner of Loki's mouth. Once aboard, he studied the neatly-piled collection of bits and pieces, then waved a hand and made everything sort of separate out and float in the air.

"Lift your right foot," he said, hand still upraised. Tony looked at him like he was nuts, which ought to have been considered a perfectly rational response given, y'know, _everything_. Loki just rolled his eyes again. "I can put the rest of it on you normally, but as your armor does include _boots,_ you will need to lift your feet while the parts assemble around them. Now— _lift your right foot_."

"Yeah, I suppose this is a little too obvious to be a prank, coming from you," said Tony; he grabbed the edge of the boat for balance and stuck his foot out.

"Hmm, yes, because nothing displays one's intelligence quite like pulling a childish trick on someone who until recently would have been quite content to watch you die, and has only just barely begun to change his opinion on the matter."

"To be fair, you did throw me out of a very high window in my own home."

"And after you had offered me a drink and everything," said Loki, a bit absently since he was focusing on the parts that had begun to attach themselves to one another around Tony's foot. "How terribly rude of me."

"Yeah, whoever taught you manners would have been _so_ embarrassed."

Loki's smile was a little sad. "Yes, she probably would have." Oh. Oops. "Now your left foot, if you would."

Bruce stirred behind them, pushing himself a bit more upright. "How are you doing that?" he asked sleepily. "I mean, I don't mean just 'magic', I mean, is it a gravitational microfield alteration, or a magnetic repulsion between the different molecules, or…?"

Loki's smile this time was a little wider as he glanced at Bruce out of the corner of his eye. "I am afraid that even the underlying principles would take more time to explain than you have, Dr. Banner. It is possible to learn some of the introductory theory without having an affinity for seidr, but it is very difficult when one cannot actually perceive the energy in question. Even with the affinity, the study takes decades just to grasp the basics. Aside from that," he added, looking amused, "I am not certain you are quite alert enough to grasp much of anything, just now."

Both Tony's boots were done; he stepped back to give the floating parts of his suit more room to move around him, and spared a thought to wonder exactly when he'd decided to trust the god of chaos not to crush him with his own armor.

"Yeah, how did you do that, anyway?" Bruce was asking. "They said we didn't fight? Something about… making friends, I think."

"Big glow ball," said Tony, "put the Big Guy right to sleep."

"What, like mind control?" Bruce scrunched up his face the way he did whenever he wasn't completely awake; it was kind of cute, not that Tony would ever say that.

"Who's doing mind control?" said Clint, coming up behind them with Nat and the others. Several of them were leaning their elbows along the edge of the hull and watching Loki do his thing.

"Nothing so extreme," said Loki. "The ball was a meditation aid which I have utilized for, oh, centuries now. Since the beginning of my studies. There is a mild compulsion spell on it to help draw one's attention, but nothing more. The movement of the lights and colors within the sphere are matched to the observer's heart and breathing rates, and as you watch they gradually slow, bringing you—or I, for that matter—to a state of calm. A very light trance. But for your more agitated companion, that was enough. The only thing I changed was to make it physically larger so that it would fit comfortably in his hand." He narrowed his eyes in concentration as the more intricate parts across Tony's shoulders and neck began to assemble. "When I am finished here, I would be willing to let you examine the sphere again, should you wish it."

"Yeah, okay," said Bruce drowsily. "Cool."

"Might put you right back to sleep, dude," said Tony.

"That's not a negative." Bruce stretched, and began hauling himself upright. The other space Viking frat bros all looked at him warily.

Loki didn't even have to look; Tony figured that years and decades and _centuries_ of hanging out with the same handful of people would give you some familiarity with their habits and attitudes. "A sorcerer of Midgard once stumbled across the formula for a potion of enhancement," he said without turning around. "The potion was only used twice before its crafter was murdered and the formula lost. Dr. Banner attempted to recreate it, but not wishing to endanger anyone else in the event that his calculations were flawed, he ingested it himself. His… other self, I suppose you would call it, is the result."

The frat bros, and sis, nodded or grimaced or whatever. "My sympathies," said Volstagg.

Bruce scrubbed a hand through his hair, and smoothed one hand down the front of his robes. "Uh, thanks?"

"But you must be hungry, after such exertions! We should adjourn for a meal, and acquaint ourselves with one another." Volstagg was puffing his chest out with a big smile, throwing arms across Sif's and Hogun's shoulders. "Thor's shield brothers of Asgard, and his shield brothers of Midgard!"

Tony couldn't help but notice that Loki wasn't exactly included in that party invitation; he shared a look with Loki, who only looked wearily amused.

"Yeah, sounds nice, but we _and Loki_ have somewhere else to be," he said, as his helmet clicked into place. The suit woke up just like it was supposed to, and began running its usual startup diagnostics. Excellent. "You know, the people who actually were fighting a little bit ago."

"The armor is impressive," said Sif skeptically.

"But where is your weapon?" asked Hogun.

"The armor _is_ the weapon, sweet cheeks," said Tony, and he launched himself into the air.

Stabilizers, check; propulsion systems, check; weapons systems, online. "Showoff," said Natasha in his ear. Communications, check.

"They were bugging me," said Tony, arcing over into a dive. Weapon identified: Clint's bow. "Tell Loki he did a good job."

"You're welcome, Stark," said Loki's voice, crystal clear, startling him.

"Intruder alert! —what the hell are you doing in my systems?"

"I'm not," said Loki, "although if you were going to complain about that you perhaps ought not to have allowed me to handle every single component with quite so much of my focus. I've merely found a way to interface my seidr with your communication devices." He sounded way too pleased with himself, although it wasn't like Tony could blame him. That really was pretty cool.

Oh. A thought: "Did you use that while we were sparring?" he asked, dropping down to collect Hawkeye's pride and joy.

"I did not," came the reply. "I was not entirely sure such an interface would be possible, and did not wish to endanger you without cause should things go awry."

" _'Go awry'_ , that's good. I'll have to remember that, Shakespeare."

"Well, we're all fucked now," came Barton's voice, sardonic as usual. "Tony's handing out nicknames to the god of chaos. Next thing you know they'll be trading phone numbers and planning a slumber party."

"He means Tony is… maybe not offering to be friends, but probably at least partway to forgiving a lot of what you did in New York," explained Steve. Subtle. Not like a warning lecture at all.

"You can have the sparkly green nail polish," Tony said, just because he could. He came up to hover alongside the building, and tossed the bow over to Clint. "Cap likes to paint little stars on his pinky fingers."

Yep, there it was. Saving the world was nice, but putting _that look_ on literally everybody's faces, including Loki's (but not Bruce's because Bruce was pretty chill), was the reason he got out of bed in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to you all for your patience waiting on this story to update, while I dealt with Real Life (tm) and then wrote another fic in an attempt to get my writing groove back.
> 
> Um. Speaking of real life, I happen to be a freelance editor, for people who want to publish manuscripts and such. I will be putting a website up in a few days, and if you're interested, you could maybe go check it out, or tell people about me if you happen to know anyone who's writing non-fanfic right now. It would be neat if I could get my name out there a bit more, but please don't feel obligated or anything. But feel free to drop me a message if you want more information.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some people are pleasantly surprised, while others are annoyed. Loki, of course, is both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not completely sure how I feel about this chapter. We're getting close to the end and sometimes my endings suck.

And now here they were, back in the palace; between Loki's skiff and the one Thor's friends had brought, it actually hadn't been too crowded at all to get everyone home before dark. Thor, naturally, had enjoyed the chance to race Tony back to his place. Loki, naturally, had beaten them both there.

The room they'd gathered in this time was different—about the same size, but minus the balcony and with more open flame—and the roughly dozen people in it were sort of milling around, Avengers and Frat Bros looking each other up and down and not sure how to proceed. No surprise, there: when the others had first walked in, Volstagg had been saying something about how whatever story they were listening to had to be some kind of exaggeration, and Steve's face was all stony, the way it got when he was getting ready to really dig his heels in over something.

"Well maybe you should ask Odin about it," Clint had said before Steve could get going, "since he was actually there for the story and you weren't." Next to him, Natasha had been wearing her thousand-percent-done face. "Or, hey, so was Thor. Thor buddy, what was the name of that dragon again? The one with the curses, that Loki saved you all from?"

So yeah. Watching that play out had been fun. Now they were all standing there, awkward as _hell_ , half of them affronted and the other half annoyed to one degree or another. The silence was just… thick. Good times, good times.

"Where have you been all this time?" Sif asked Loki finally. "You deceived your brother so that you could escape imprisonment…"

"It was no deception," broke in Thor. "We all believed his wound to be fatal. I have seen the scars myself."

"Even so," said Hogun. "We believed him dead and he was not. What treachery did you commit out of our sight, fallen one?"

Loki glared at him and Sif for a second (while Volstagg and Fandral both winced), but then his expression smoothed. "Thor, your servants are speaking to me," he said mildly. "Perhaps you should make them stop _before I do_."

Yeah. Ouch.

"You owe us an answer," began Sif, stepping forward, but Loki cut her off imperiously.

"I owe you nothing," he said, still deceptively calm-sounding but with a bit of an edge to his voice that wasn't there before. "I have already given my report to my brother and the king of Asgard. These mortals, too, know the full extent of my whereabouts and activities, but only because they were brought here by the Three Sisters themselves, and it was only at _their_ behest that I gave my report at all. Who are you, next to the All-Father and crown prince? Who are you, next to the Norns themselves?"

"Who are you?" answered Hogun, and Loki's eyes narrowed.

"Again, Thor," he said, not taking his eyes off Hogun, "I really must insist."

"He is my brother," said Thor. He looked distinctly unhappy, but he still continued, "As you are my friend. I have known you both for centuries, Hogun, and it is because we are friends that I must ask you: please, do not make me choose between you."

Hmm. Looked like maybe Thor had remembered their little conversation earlier about picking a side, and cutting out deadwood. Hogun and Sif, for their parts, looked shocked; well, Sif looked shocked. Hogun looked like he wanted to kill something, but so far he'd looked like that at least eighty percent of the time Tony had known him. Volstagg and Fandral mainly seemed to look deeply uncomfortable.

"He is our guardian," said the Norns' vessel. "That is enough. He has done our bidding and shared his story with those whom we chose. Whether he speaks of his experiences ever again is his choice entirely."

"And I choose not to."

"Loki was on Alfheim," said Odin suddenly, making all their heads turn. "The lot of you defied my express commands, and because of it Loki was removed from imprisonment, the Aether fell into Malekith's hands, and both my sons were nearly killed as the Nine Realms were brought to the very brink of destruction. Thor was forgiven for his treason only because he managed to defeat Malekith. And as you well know, Loki was exonerated of guilt for his deeds after we believed him to have died honorably, defending his brother."

Well, now, that was some magnificent spin, layers of true or probably true things decorating just one blatant lie; was Odin finally getting it through his head that being a pompous ass was optional rather than mandatory?

"Loki is right," he went on. "None of you deserve to know what became of him; however, I also know your propensity for gossiping and boasting of your deeds in the mead halls throughout the Nine Realms. Therefore I will tell you this much, so that you may spread something other than accusations and baseless rumor on your travels: Loki's wound was very nearly fatal. Only the seidr flowing through his veins allowed him to survive, and when he woke, he was alone, mere inches from death, the only living person in an entirely barren realm. He used the last of his strength to find the path between worlds nearest to him, and that path brought him to Alfheim. He has been there ever since, recuperating, alone, in full view of myself and Heimdall. When he was well enough to make the journey, the Three Sisters found him, and brought him before me, along with these mortals. Apart from those of us in this room, no one on Asgard is even aware, yet, that my son survived."

Tony blinked. That was… that was a truly glorious pile of bullshit. Even Loki, so-called god of deceit or whatever, was looking at the old man with something approaching wonder. Naturally, it begged the question of just why he was slinging it here and now, after all the arrogant crap he'd spewed before, but still.

Odin narrowed his eye, and even though he was shorter than most of the Asgardian people in the room, he still managed to intimidate them all. "Does that satisfy you? If it does not, I do not care. You have overstepped your station countless times over the centuries, where my sons are concerned, just as you have utilized your positions as close confidants of the princes, countless times, to escape the consequences of your actions. But you will not do it today. My patience with all of you is at an end."

Volstagg and Fandral were each quick to take a knee and do that Roman salute thing, fists to their chests. Sif and Hogun were only a second behind them, but they both looked pretty stiff about it; Sif's face was actually kinda red, though to be fair, if Tony had just been called out that harshly in front of people he respected, he might have turned a little pink too.

Okay, probably not, but still.

"Forgive us, All-Father. Loki," said Fandral. "We have erred." He looked right at Loki while he said it.

Sif was visibly bracing herself to force out the words. "We were, perhaps, unjust towards Loki. But at the time, it was clear to all that he could not be trusted. We believed he would betray Thor."

"Based on what evidence, precisely?" asked Odin coolly. "His actions on Midgard? You were not there to witness them. Sending the Destroyer to Midgard while Thor was banished? He sent it after _you,_ for defying him while he was king. No. You had no reason to believe Loki would _ever_ turn on his brother. You merely assumed, and did not bother to verify your assumptions. This seems to have been a pattern for you, in your behavior toward Loki. That your assumptions were on occasion correct over the years does not excuse the fact that you made them, nor the number of times that your accusations were wholly unfounded yet you continued to make them anyway."

Oh, hey, Tony knew that face. That was the face he made when he was trying with everything he had not to say something that would get himself killed. Thor's pals, a couple of them anyway, _really_ wanted to dispute that claim. Too bad for them, one did not simply argue with one's king unless one wanted to get acquainted with the inside of a dungeon.

"It is as I told you on the training grounds," said Loki. "You do not ask. You assume, and then condemn me accordingly. You have done it for centuries, and you are doing it again now. You _think_ you know what I have done, and you do not _care_ to know why, but your assumptions are enough for you to mistrust me just as you always have. I say to you, no more. You are finished treating me as a pariah and the butt of all your scorn. If you cannot show me the basic courtesy you owe to a man you claim to be your 'old friend', then you _will_ show me the respect you owe to a prince of this realm. Failure to do otherwise will carry penalties for you, at long last." His smile was venomous as he added, "You may want to keep that in mind."

"Guardian," called the big glass statue, and the whole room went still. It was funny, even though the Avengers had been around Her plenty already, it had only taken a couple of hours on the battlefield and away from Her to no longer be used to Her presence. Tall, molten glass, androgynous, and eerily self-contained, She filled the room without really doing anything at all.

Loki visibly steeled himself. "Illustrious ladies," he said, turning to face Her, "what would you have of me?"

"We have other matters yet to discuss," She said. "We brought these mortals to Asgard that you might select them to aid you, as your task will be more easily carried out if you have allies at your disposal. If you wish these Aesir companions to aid you as well, they may remain. If you feel they will hinder you, then dismiss them."

"I wish to stay," said Sif and Hogun, practically in stereo. They were also, in stereo, doing a really crappy job of not glaring at Loki—although, again, in Hogun's case that might have just been his default expression. He had a better resting bitch face than Barton.

"And I," said Volstagg. No surprise there.

"I would remain, Loki, if you would allow it," said Fandral. He was standing quietly, not puffing his chest out like the others, and he had his arm just sort of casually held up against his chest in that salute Tony had seen.

Loki, for his part, ignored the other three but kept looking at Fandral, measuring him thoughtfully, then glancing over at the Avengers and the big glass statue.

"Might I ask your opinion, illustrious ladies?" he asked finally.

"Your decision is your own, guardian," She said, "but if you wish to know their hearts, we will tell you."

"I do wish it," said Loki, and Tony watched as all the other frat bros looked really nervous all of a sudden.

The Norns' vessel stepped forward, body chiming quietly. "The son of Folkmarr has ever been faithful and true to you, guardian; his only weakness is a tendency to follow too readily, and to avoid confronting his friends. He is too easily swayed to their causes, even when he knows they are wrong. He would nevertheless be a trustworthy ally, obedient and valiant. His mind is quick and clever, and he needs only your encouragement to share his ideas rather than allowing others always to take the lead."

Standing next to Tony, Fandral's eyebrows went up, and he blinked in pleased surprise. The other three stood a little taller, clearly expecting to hear good things about themselves, too.

"Sigrun's daughter," said the Norns, "wishes to prove herself mighty, striving always against an invisible foe. She has grown accustomed to defiance and belligerence in the face of prejudice, and has forgotten that not all who surround her are her adversaries. She wishes to join this quest in order to protect Asgard from your perceived deceit, but would also protect you if you proved yourself to her satisfaction. Whether or not you could ever meet her standards for satisfaction is the true question, and one only she can answer."

Well, that wiped the smug look off of Sif's face. All right, to be fair, it wasn't quite a _smug_ look, she just had a tendency to rub Tony the wrong way. Tony could admit that she at least made an effort to be civil, even when Loki clearly was pissing her off. Rhodey had been like that when Tony first met him, and Tony wondered if Sif had had to live in the same suffocating atmosphere of discrimination that his friend had.

The big glass statue turned toward Volstagg next. "The son of Vrai does not wish to be excluded from adventure; he fears being left behind and thus relegated to lead the life of a common husband and father, no longer permitted to walk in the company of royalty, condemned to live out an unremarkable existence. He is a brave warrior, and his loyalty is unshakeable once he has chosen to give it… unshakeable, in fact, to the point of blindness. And yet, guardian, he has not given that loyalty to you, for all that he likely believes he has. If you were to include him, unless he learns better and truly opens his mind to you, he would stubbornly question your commands at every turn unless they were constantly affirmed by the Thunderer who does have his loyalty, because he perceives himself as older and somehow wiser than you, despite all evidence to the contrary."

Volstagg's face fell and he turned red; around him, more than one person grimaced, Tony included. Ouch.

"Finally, Haki's son set his opinions of you long ago and carved them into stone; if he journeys with you it will only be because Thor is at your side, and because he wishes to catch you conniving against those whom he truly values. That said, he is stalwart in defense and his tactical mind would be well suited to the protection of Vanaheim, if he could be persuaded to heed your words."

Oh wait, tangent, so Hogun was from another realm altogether? Tony assumed that was what "heim" meant, since Loki had used it more than once in his story to talk about other planets he'd been to. Huh. The man looked like he wanted to disembowel something, but again, that was the face he'd been wearing this whole time anyway. "She speaks truth," he said; stoic and gravelly and apparently unmoved by anything. His gaze slid sideways to take in Loki. "I do not trust you."

"Unbelievable." The word slipped out before Tony could stop himself. "Un-freaking-believable. Okay, granted, you weren't even actually here to catch the whole story, fine. But we were, and we're willing to pitch in with him. And don't get me wrong here—I mean, look, the guy went nuts and tried to take over our world, it's not like we started out as friends or anything, okay? But you _did_ , supposedly, and you've got the friggin' Norns standing literally _right there_ telling you that he's plenty worthy enough for them, and you're still trying to say he doesn't measure up to whatever the hell your standards are?"

"He does not grasp honor," said Hogun, and wow, who'd died and nominated this guy for Last Samurai?

"I grasp honor perfectly well," said Loki. "It is an arbitrary notion, with rules that change from moment to moment, and is arbitrarily embraced by the powerful, who are the only ones who can afford such luxury. I choose not to abide by such a fickle code, especially when doing so would have seen you all dead centuries ago. Instead, there are a handful of rules which I abide by always, which do _not_ continually contradict one another, and the rest I willingly discard in the name of practicality." He finally dropped his aloof act and narrowed his eyes at the other man. "I am, in that regard, exactly like you, Hogun, only _I_ have the temerity to admit it."

"Friend Tony is right," said Thor. "Whether or not Loki is worthy of the Three Sisters themselves is no longer in question. What _is_ , is whether or not we, who would be his companions on his quest, are worthy of _him_."

For a split second, Loki's façade dropped completely, and he looked _so young_ , like a kid who'd just gotten his dearest wish… or maybe like a patient who'd been told the tests came back negative and he was going to live after all. Loki's mouth fell open and his face crinkled up, and before he blinked them back Tony thought he'd even seen tears starting to well up. Was he really that unused to having his big brother stand up for him? He glanced away quickly, and brought himself back under control in the space of a breath or two, but Tony thought he'd managed to uncover another piece of Loki's puzzle right then, in that one glimpse. Even after hearing Loki's story and watching him fight, there was still a lot to uncover on the guy.

"Very well," he said. Paused, and smoothed his hands down the front of his coat. "Very well." He turned, then gave a bow to the big glass statue. "Illustrious ladies, I thank you for your wisdom. I…" He paused again, licking his lips nervously. "Fandral, if you wish it, you may stay. Sif, Hogun, Volstagg… perhaps we can discuss your assignments at a later time."

The other three (well, okay, only two of them) started spluttering, naturally. "Surely, you cannot mean—!" "I refuse to—" "—because you wish to hold a _grudge_ —" "—for the good of Asgard—" Volstagg and Sif went back and forth, not quite taking turns, while Hogun just stared Loki down as if he'd expected Loki to do something even more despicable than telling them they couldn't play in Loki's sandbox.

Tony glanced over at the other humans in the room and saw the closest thing to irritated disgust on Widow's face, directed not at Loki but at the squabbling threesome. Cap and Hawkeye were exchanging glances, neither one looking too impressed, and Bruce caught Tony's eye with a wry smile. Tony could almost hear him asking, _Can you believe these guys?_

"Enough." Loki pressed his lips together, looking faintly regretful. "I am certain that Asgard, and Vanaheim, will have need of you in days to come. And doubtless you shall always remain Thor's boon companions, no matter what else may happen. But Hogun, Volstagg, where I go, I fear you cannot follow." He took a breath, and studied the other member of their little group. "Sif, I might have been able to find a use for you, but I think we both know you would be unwilling to follow the commands of a leader whom you despise."

"I have _never_ despised you," said Sif, and Tony had to admit, she looked less pissed off as she said it, and more troubled by the idea that Loki really thought that about her.

"You may believe that, if you wish. The mockery and scorn I remember claim otherwise." He glanced meaningfully toward the door. "I will approach you later, or have Thor or Fandral do so, and see if you do not still wish to participate. For now, however…"

"You refuse to tell us what foe we may face," said Hogun.

"I refuse to waste any more time _arguing_ in front of the _Weavers of All Fate_ , who have been tremendously gracious and patient with us all _until_ now," Loki snapped. "Go. If I thought I could trust you I would give you the defense of Vanaheim as your task. As it is, you will defend Vanaheim anyway, merely because it is your homeland. In the meantime I will give my information to allies who will actually heed it, and seek counsel from those who will not _waste my time_ seeking an ulterior motive in my every word and deed."

Hogun's nostrils flared, but he set his jaw and said nothing. He also did not leave.

"You are dismissed, my friends," said Thor finally. Looked like he hated to say it, too, but he did.

The frat bros minus Fandral all stood there shocked for a second; then, one by one, they turned and left. If it hadn't been for Sif saluting the king, prompting the other two to do the same, Tony was pretty sure they all would have just staggered out of there blindly, unable to believe that they were really, truly, actually being cut out of the loop.

"Sif." She was the last one to the door, and she looked over her shoulder at Loki, her expression still troubled. "The Mad Titan threatens the Nine. Be ready." Her eyes widened, then she drew herself up and nodded decisively—and then she actually saluted him, like, completely un-ironically and everything, before heading out and pulling the door shut behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to flesh out the Warriors Four here to make them, a: not cardboard cutout characters like in the movies, and b: not automatically horrible people just because they haven't always been on Loki's side. Characters, to me, are more interesting if you can't just write them off as a waste of your time and deserving of all spite. Everybody is a universe within their own mind, everybody is the center of their own personal world, everybody has a reason for what they do. If you remember that and try to write it, it's more challenging, but the results are richer, deeper, more layered, more _real_. For Loki to have been friends with these guys for hundreds and hundreds of years, I can't imagine that he could or would see them as cardboard cutouts himself.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A longer than usual chapter, because here we are at the end.

"Very little of that was true," said Loki, as soon as the door clicked shut. Fandral, the only one of them out of the loop at this point, blinked at him in surprise.

"Do you complain?" asked Odin, maybe a little testily in Tony's view. "The story portrayed you favorably, and more of it was true than not."

Loki lifted his chin, gazing through narrowed eyes at the old king. "I suppose that _is_ your style," he said after a moment. "Reveal only as much of the truth as makes you look good; ignore the rest. The question, however, is _why_. Why, after all you have done to show how much you despise me, would you offer a show of support now?"

"Despise; you throw that word around a bit too freely," said Odin. He sighed, and glanced away, and Tony was surprised to see his shoulders drop, until for the first time since they'd met him, he looked less like a pompous dictator and more like a tired old man. "While you and the mortals entertained yourselves, the Three Sisters spoke with me. I do not absolve you of all you have done, but… I have been made to see the flaw in my methods of dealing with you and your misdeeds. My failure to see you as yourself, rather than viewing you through the lens of my own biases."

Tony glanced to the side, trying to be discreet, to catch the expressions on the other Avengers' faces. Bruce looked about as bemused as Tony felt, although that could have just been the fatigue talking. Steve was squinting at the old guy skeptically, his arms folded, and Natasha looked carefully blank as she studied Odin's face. Tony couldn't get a good read on Clint from where he was standing, but if he had to guess he'd say Katniss was somewhere between Steve's skepticism and Nat's… whatever she was.

Fandral, for his part, looked deeply embarrassed; it took Tony, who did not embarrass easily, more time than he would admit to, to figure out that Robin Hood didn't like being caught standing _right there_ while these two had their family discussion in front of God and everybody.

And then Thor added himself to the mix, folding his arms in a mimicry of Steve's posture, looking his father over. "Do you regret it?" he asked.

"Regret is futile," said Odin, and Tony didn't miss the irritation that showed on Loki's face. "Apologies do not change what has been done."

"Then you will never admit wrongdoing!" said Thor, incredulous. "You believe you have not erred, no matter what the Three Sisters may tell you."

"Not so. I simply do not see the point in such admission. It changes nothing. Actions carry weight. Deeds matter. Words to express remorse are meaningless if there is no atonement to follow."

Loki glanced down to where he was rubbing his fingertips together, fidgeting like he had during their earlier talk whenever things got a little too personal for him. "Words to express remorse, as you put it, would mean the world to those whom you have hurt," he said softly, "if only to demonstrate that you do not see yourself as infallible and above reproach. That you do not feel your actions are justified, no matter how cruel." He lifted his eyes to Odin without moving his head. "Did your beloved wife not teach you that? Or was it kingship that removed the knowledge from your memory?"

Odin said nothing, at first—again—only this time it was less of a "refuse to dignify that with an answer" kind of silence, and more of a "too many feels to answer" one. "Thor may lower himself before mortals," he answered after a moment, "but then, Thor has thrown away his right to become king, and may embarrass himself how he pleases."

Which, not actually connected to the question Loki had asked, and there was something missing from the way he said it—the severity and austere dignity Odin had displayed before felt more like a front. Or maybe there was something in the subtext that Tony was missing, given the way Natasha's eyes narrowed.

Loki caught it, too. "Then perhaps we will talk later, you and I… assuming I can be convinced that you will have anything of value to say to me."

"You may not value my words as a father, Loki," said Odin calmly, "but you will hear them as a king."

"You are not my king—"

"That is not what I said." Odin sighed, and moved toward one of the curving, padded couches around yet another open fire pit. "The Three Sisters have told me something of your task, and that you will require assistance. As a king, and as one sworn to protect the Nine Realms, I can say to you that you will have that assistance. Regardless of our quarrel, Loki, I am not a fool. I do not wish to see Thanos destroy Yggdrasil any more than you do." He lowered himself to sit, and wearily set his spear aside. "I also say you will speak with me privately, 'as a king', because you did rule Asgard, and ruled it well. And you are not such a fool as to throw away the assets that Asgard can provide."

A stifled cough drew their attention to Fandral, who turned red with everyone's eyes on him. "You… ruled Asgard?" he asked Loki. "Aside from the first time?"

Loki just smirked at him, and then a shimmer of light crawled across his skin, the way it had when he'd first changed out of his prison uniform. In addition to his clothes, however, Loki's hair color faded to white, wrinkles spread from the corners of his eyes, and the veins stood out more on the backs of his hands. He grew shorter and stockier, and his nose changed shape, and inside of three seconds, there was a second Odin standing there, while Fandral's jaw dropped.

"You… this is—" Fandral reached out to touch and stopped himself at the last second. He paced a circle around Loki, who stood there indulgently and let him; the amused look on "Odin's" face made him look less like the emperor of the universe and more like a one-eyed Santa Claus. "How long did you hold this form?" he asked, once he'd come back around to Loki's front again.

"A few months," not-Odin shrugged. Even the voice was different, an exact copy of the old man they had been sharing space with all afternoon.

Fandral did a double-take, glancing back and forth between him and the real Odin. Finally he grinned. "Bold as a magpie and mad as a loon."

"You forgot clever as a fox," said Loki.

"Funny-looking as a—"

"That is your _king_ you are mocking." Not-Odin drew himself up and glared down his nose at Fandral, who actually startled for a second, before laughing nervously.

"I'll stay with mad as a loon, then." He watched as Loki dropped the illusion, or changed shape, or whatever it was he did to go back to looking like himself again. "Were you the one behind sending us to Vanaheim to speak with their artificers?"

"I was." The moment broke as Loki shifted, and they all finally moved over to join Odin and sit down. "I quite enjoyed the look on all your faces once you returned."

"A stranger adventure I have never had," said Fandral. "But at least I can say it was not boring."

Clint leaned over to catch Steve's eye. "I'm betting we'll all be _wishing_ for 'boring' before all is said and done."

"I fear you are right," said Thor, and they all sobered. He was the only one still standing, passing around mugs of what turned out to be pretty damn tasty beer, along with bowls of some kind of thick gravy and round loaves of bread. After he sat, Tony copied him as he pulled a hunk of bread off the nearest loaf and dipped it into the gravy. "I can scarcely accept that the Mad Titan is not merely a legend, and now we learn that it is our task to defeat him."

Fandral was shaking his head in wonder. "I see that there is much I will need to hear in order to catch up with the rest of your cohort," he said. He tried on another smile, adding, "Honestly, Loki, we let you out of our sight for five minutes…"

But that was kinda the wrong thing to say, given the way Loki's face went still. "It was your decision to turn your backs on me and go after Thor while he was banished."

"You're right," Fandral replied quietly, "and for my part in that, I can only apologize."

Loki studied him before turning his attention to his food. "I have already said all I wish to say on that subject," he said with a shake of his head. "I would rather listen to the Three Sisters speak of the use to which they wish to put me, than to discuss it again."

The glass body of the Norns' vessel chimed again, eerie and strange as She gestured. "We do not use you," She said, stepping forward so they could all see her better. "We name you our guardian, and grant you our favor. The task we wish you to undertake is one to which you are already disposed, and which you have already taken steps to accomplish."

"Destroying Tha—destroying the Titan," said Loki. "If, indeed, it can be done."

"We believe it can," She said. "All creatures that are born must eventually die… even those creatures who have cut themselves off from the natural tides of death and birth. Thanos can be brought back into the natural current, the flow of all life toward death. We believe he can be brought across that boundary, without destroying the Nine."

Loki considered that as he leaned back in his seat. "With respect, ladies, why do you not do this thing yourselves?"

"Because we are _too_ great, and even such as we are bounded by some rules." She held up a hand, and a foot-high, brightly glowing image of the World Tree appeared, its roots twined delicately around Her fingertips. "We maintain Yggdrasil; that is our function and our purpose. We know of the existence of the other World Trees, indeed of the entire Forest—but as you have seen, we cannot even travel _here_ except with a vessel, lest we destroy your entire realm with our mere presence. To take ourselves to another Tree, away from Yggdrasil, would threaten the existence of both Trees and ultimately of all the Forest of Being. Therefore, we require an intermediary. One who can travel on our behalf and go where we cannot. One who knows of the threat Thanos poses, and has the intellect to counter him and thwart his plans.

"In short, Loki," and Tony didn't miss the way he shivered when they said his name for the first time, "we require you. You are the perfect candidate to achieve our aims, aims which as we have already stated coincide exactly with your own."

Loki swallowed hard, and shuddered once; seeing this, Thor dropped onto the cushion beside him and threw an arm across his shoulders. "Please tell me that you did not _craft_ me for such a purpose. Tell me that you did not shape my fate, and cause my suffering, only for this."

"We did not, guardian. We intervene less than you fear we do."

"Free will, right?" Tony hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud until She answered him.

"Precisely, son of Howard." The tree hologram or whatever it was vanished as She turned toward him. "We weave the tapestry, but the threads are living souls. The image we craft is ever-changing, as those threads brush against one another. Loki's choices were his own, for good and ill, and his response to his trials was his alone. When we saw him return safely to Yggdrasil, and saw what was in his heart, we watched carefully. He enacted his plans despite the damage from which he still suffered, and was successful in prompting Midgard to prepare a defense against the Titan's forces. He recovered, here, in solitude and largely unaided. He never lost sight of his goal to protect the realms and topple Thanos, and when the opportunity arose to act, he took it."

She stepped closer, and actually bent low so She could reach out and caress the side of Loki's face. "Our only influence upon you, guardian, was to aid in your healing, so that your mind would be fully your own a little more quickly, and so that your heart would bear fewer scars. We did not _make_ you into our guardian, nor do we appoint you as such; we merely recognize what was already true."

Loki didn't actually look even the _slightest_ bit gratified to hear that. He even shuddered again when the big glass statue touched him; after a second, Tony remembered what he'd been saying before about having the attention of the Fates focused on somebody so completely.

"So what happens next?" he asked, to break the moment.

Loki sent a look his way that Tony had seen once or twice already, that mix of gratitude and bemusement he had, like he wasn't quite sure whether to be grateful or to start looking for hidden motives, anytime someone _didn't_ throw him under the bus to save themselves.

"You're probably not going to rule Asgard again," suggested Natasha, with a side-eye to Odin.

"Indeed not," Loki replied. "I have made my point and begun most of what I wished to implement here. So long as Odin is willing to continue to move toward the empowerment of all the Nine Realms, I have no reason to oppose him."

"Odin Borson may rule Asgard, or Thor Odinson may take up the scepter; it matters not," said the Norns. "Loki's task places him beyond such petty demands."

"Petty?" asked Clint. "King of a whole planet is petty?"

"Our guardian means to unite the realms, and turn their momentum toward a common goal. As a king commands his people, so will Loki command kings. As you command on Midgard, son of Howard," the Norns added, and Tony about choked on his beer.

"Command what now?" he sputtered, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. "I'm wealthy, but I don't have, like, armies or anything." Although an argument could be made that he did have them in his hip pocket if they wanted any more toys out of him. He was just rich. And… kind of funded the Avengers out of his own pocket. And had Nick Fury on speed dial, which meant he could get theoretically get SHIELD to back a scheme if it was convincing enough. And of course, Tony had Pepper… who ran Stark Industries... whose investments had a finger in pretty much every pie on Earth… and oh hell, he could be an evil overlord without even half trying, and why had nobody told him this before now? He fell back against the couch with a soft thud. "Oh."

"Seriously, Stark?" Natasha was looking at him like he was an idiot, and maybe he was. Or else, you know, narcissistic and self-absorbed and oblivious, which was an issue he'd thought he'd made progress on since Obie.

Fandral, Thor, and Loki were all looking at him in varying degrees of confusion, although he was pretty sure Loki was only faking. "Apparently the only reason I don't rule Earthgard or whatever is because it never occurred to me to actually try it. Plus. You know. Bureaucracy is boring and I had better things to do."

Natasha smirked at him. "You're an idiot, Tony."

"I thought I was your favorite."

"You're my favorite idiot."

"I thought _I_ was your favorite idiot," said Clint, and she elbowed him.

"Will you do this thing, guardian?" asked the Norns, and they all sobered.

Loki took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and nodded. "You are correct, illustrious ladies," he said; "I would have done this with or without your favor. I only feel as though I have less choice in the matter now than I did this morning. My course has not actually changed."

He didn't actually look like a superhero in that moment, but then neither did any of the rest of them, most of the time. He looked tired, and worried, and like he was taking up the work because he couldn't not. That was something Tony and all the rest of them could relate to… and that was what finally put Tony completely on his side. They might not have been enemies anymore, after hearing Loki's story earlier, but this was the moment, as far as Tony was concerned, wherein they became actual allies.

"You wish to unite the Nine Realms," said Thor. "But they are already united."

Loki looked at him like _he_ was the favorite idiot. "They are no such thing, brother. Jotunheim has been dying for centuries. Midgard does not know the other realms even exist. Svartalfheim is a dead world, for now, and Muspelheim despises us even more than the Jotnar do. Even the Vanir only tolerate our yoke because they have worn it for so long that most have forgotten they were ever not an extension of Asgard's might." He tore off another hunk of bread and pointed it at Big Thunder. "Asgard—Odin—will likely see it as a subversion of Aesir hegemony, as _undermining Asgard_ ; I, however, see it as the opposite: I mean to empower all the Nine, so that they are each, individually, capable of battling the Titan, rather than being offerings for his lady. When they are equally powerful, it will be easier to unite them, and the entirety of Yggdrasil will be stronger as a result."

"And how do you mean to go about that?" asked Odin, but Clint spoke up next.

"Before you answer that, I have a question for the, uh, the Three Sisters." He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and fidgeting with his beer mug.

"Ask, and we will answer, son of Lawrence."

"'S real easy," said Clint with a shrug. "Earlier, Loki said you know the location of every particle in the World Tree, or something like that. You knew when he came back, _and_ you knew he was on Earth when it happened. So doesn't that mean you knew where Loki was, up here in prison, even before you came to Earth 'looking' for him?"

Tony blinked. Thought back over Her words and Loki's, and… Huh. He'd been so busy putting together the pieces of Loki's story that he hadn't stopped to think about any agenda the Norns might have. In his defense, though, it was kind of hard to pin an _agenda_ on a _walking public sculpture._

The big glass statue smiled enigmatically. "Perhaps it was not only Loki whom we sought."

Annnd, jaws dropping all around the room, mumblings and mutterings and Significant Glances being exchanged. "Why us?" Steve was the first to speak up. "Is it just because of our history with Loki?"

"Somewhat," She replied. "You have a right to the truth. You were among those most wronged by Loki's deeds, and you are in the best position to aid him in bringing Midgard into union with the rest of the Nine."

"SHIELD contacts, Stark's influence," Natasha mused. "Steve, you've got more sway over public opinion than you realize… yeah. I could see it."

"Okay, but back to the topic," said Bruce. "Loki, I'm guessing you're not used to having, ah, coconspirators, but it would be good to get some idea of your plans. If we're going to help out—"

"But are you?" Loki tilted his head, his expression intent. "Would you? Ally yourselves with a known enemy of your people—a confessed kinslayer, an admitted madman?" Thor reached up and gave Loki's shoulder a squeeze, while Fandral looked troubled.

"Our world in the balance," Nat quoted at him, eyebrow raised. "You think you made Director Fury desperate for solutions before? You might have invaded, but now we're talking about facing down the guy who backed you, who controlled you and made the invasion possible. When our world finds out that you were just testing us… when they learn that we're going up against someone who supposedly _can't die_ … yes. Earth will throw in with you. They probably won't trust you—"

"—and I predict that Fury is going to have us all in psych evaluations and tested for mind control as soon as we come back and start telling him that Loki was on our side the whole time," said Clint.

"—but they'll ally with you."

"Then I believe that shall be your initial task," said Loki. "Convince Midgard that my motives are… hm. Not benign, perhaps. But not inimical to your world or your people." His lip quirked up. "If nothing else, I would not wish to destroy the realm which produces such delicious fish, nor the home of the kind old woman who prepares it."

"We'll need more than just your word on that, you know that," said Clint.

Bruce and Tony caught each other's eyes and said, "Tech exchange," in perfect unison. Tony went on, "Give us something that we can use to fight Thanos—"

"No," said Loki. "No weapons, not yet. Not with the way the peoples of your world fight amongst yourselves. Your SHIELD wanted the Tesseract so that they could arm themselves against other humans, on your own planet. If Midgard is to be of any use in the coming conflict, we must first unite the many bickering cultures of your world into one. It is the very problem of Yggdrasil, in microcosm." He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. "What I can offer are technologies to improve your people's knowledge of medicine. Eradicate or treat diseases. Purify your water or air."

"That… that could work," said Tony. "That could do a _lot_." Bruce had a gleam in his eye that was possibly bordering on manic, just a little bit.

"You think Asgard will give those so willingly?" asked Thor. "To mortals? You and I have learned differently, but the rest of our people… even Odin does not care for them overmuch."

Loki shrugged. "Odin knows the value of such a gesture," he replied, "and if Asgard will not, there is always Vanaheim. The medicine of Alfheim, the purification technology of Nidavellir… I will find whatever works, if Asgard does not provide." He shrugged again, and smiled lazily. "Of course, if Asgard does not come to Midgard's aid, it will undermine their standing with Midgard _and all the other realms_ as Yggdrasil's protector. You _did_ swear to safeguard all the Nine Realms, did you not?"

Odin frowned, but did not contradict him.

"Okay, mental note," said Tony. "Nine realms. Nine different planets, nine horses that you need to get pulling all in the same direction. Midgard, step one, make it so Loki can come visit; mid-range goal, unite the planet. Somehow. Get all one hundred thirty-six countries and three thousand languages, and _God_ knows how many different religions and sub-cultures, to quit trying to kill each other off and unite against a common threat."

Steve's eyebrows went up and he blew out a breath; Clint pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah. That'll be a breeze. Piece of cake."

"That's one realm," said Tony. "What about the other ones?"

"I'm assuming you've given this some kind of thought already," said Bruce.

"Probably while he was king," shrugged Natasha.

"I have," said Loki, fingertips touching his lip. "Although I am uncertain as to why you would need to know about my plans for the other realms, since it is unlikely that you will ever have contact with them."

"All knowledge is valuable," said Widow. Tony figured what she was really saying was, "The more information we can bring back home with us, the better."

"Plus the Norns brought us here, specifically, right at the beginning when you're getting ready to set everything in motion," said Steve. "Might be She—they—wanted us here so we could hear everything. Not just about what happened in the past, but going forward."

"So you can supervise someone you do not trust," Loki said, raising an eyebrow.

"So you can bounce ideas off of us and let us help refine them," Steve corrected.

"You did say that Earth's problems pretty much are Yggdrasil's problems on a smaller scale," Bruce pointed out. "Might be we've already addressed something similar to what you need done, and can point out options you've overlooked." He had a point; if it was chaos and scheming that Loki needed, he couldn't do much better than the Avengers and SHIELD.

"He is right, guardian," said the Norns. "The mortals understand chaos better than any other species. They would embrace your tactics, rather than mock them."

Loki frowned thoughtfully, then glanced around the room at them all. "You really would, wouldn't you," he murmured.

"Yep. Pretty much," said Tony.

"So. Plans?" asked Clint.

"I have several, of course," said Loki. "And of greatest urgency right now… Fandral."

"Yes, my prince?"

"How do you feel about getting caught seducing a maiden and causing a scandal, leading to the overthrow of the governor of Vanaheim's Third Prefecture?"

Thor coughed into his beer. "What?" His eyes were wide as he asked, "Loki, _why_?"

"It is a step on the path to eventually restoring Svartalfheim," he said cheerfully, and this time it was Fandral who choked. Best of all (at least, to Tony) was the way Odin looked like he wanted to do a spit-take himself and only stopped himself thanks to centuries of iron-willed self-control. "I did say we would strengthen all _Nine_ of the realms."

"Ah. Loki," Fandral stammered, "did you have a specific maiden in mind?"

"Me, possibly," said Loki, and grinned at the reaction that got before settling down again. "I have a few candidates, but if none of them are suitable, it may be necessary for me to take up the role."

Right. God of chaos.

Loki began to lay out the general ideas and goals for each of the realms, with the barest sketch of the background intel they would need to make sense of all of them, and Tony leaned back in his seat, hiding a grin. From the look of things, Earth's Mightiest Heroes were about to help save the _universe._

It was going to be a hell of a ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end! In response to one or two private messages, I do not have a sequel planned. Apart from the fight sequences, I don't know that this is my best work at all, and I've been struggling to find a way to wrap up the story that wouldn't just suck. Hopefully this one is okay.
> 
> If you want to leave extra kudos, you're welcome to stop by [my Tumblr blog](http://peaceheather.tumblr.com) and say hello.

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the first Loki fic I've written but it is the first one I'm posting. None of the others are complete, but this one interrupted me while I was minding my own business and said, "WRITE THIS". So I did.


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